Forces of Darkness
by T.R. Fanatic
Summary: Six members of Team Rocket from Pokemon encounter one maiden from Noir... The result? Read for yourself... Ch. 19 and 20! NOW COMPLETED! Please R&R!
1. Wanderer

Forces of Darkness

By: T.R. Fanatic

Rated T for language and violence.

Author's Note: WAAH! My first time I'm actually kicking myself to write AND finish this crazy cross-over fanfic. I'm so happy! But anyway, please read, enjoy and THEN review... PLEASE!

By the way, this fanfic takes place before episode 1 of Noir and between the Johto and Hoenn series of Pokemon.

Disclaimer: at the end of chapter 1.

Prologue: Message

_Hello, fellow reader. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Otaku. My real name is not known by anyone on the Web... It's a big secret and all... But anyways, just call me by my codename from here on out. "Why such a name?" you may be asking. It's hard to describe that... Not only do I have a complex knowledge of every anime series known (hence the codename), but I can also communicate between the human world (the world you and I are in right now), and the anime world (the world only seen on TV). Strange, huh?_

_Now, don't walk away and think that I'm crazy in the head. You've stumbled upon this message in the first place and I want you to read through it and hear me out._

_A few months ago, I started to keep tabs on two anime characters. The first person: Daisuke Yamamoto, a.k.a. the Black Hat Bandit. A young, well-known criminal from the Kanto region of Japan. And, not to mention, a fairly high-ranked Team Rocket member. The second: Claude Blackhawk, an elite and well-known Global Police (GP for short) officer from North America who, based on his excellent record of apprehending the most wanted criminals, was summoned to Japan to either capture or kill the Bandit._

_A report was sent out a week after Blackhawk came to Japan confirming the death of the Black Hat Bandit, a gunshot to the chest. ...But, that report turned out to be false as the Bandit somehow survived the attack and had been seen with three other people: his siblings, two older and one younger. But age doesn't really matter when it comes to rank... Daisuke has been reported as the commanding officer because of the ten years of experience under his belt._

_In GP's case: crime and years of experience goes along well with reward money. After it was announced that the Black Hat Bandit "rose from the grave," Blackhawk, still in hot water after he made the false statement (though he still claims that he did kill Daisuke), announced a $5 million bounty on the Black Hat Bandit -- dead or alive._

_Word of the manhunt reached fast in the anime world. Many bounty hunters wanted to take part, but then, were either turned down or forced to drop the mission as rumors had spread that Blackhawk hired a well-known professional assassin to take the Bandit down._

_This is where the story begins..._

Part I: Japan

Chapter 1: Wanderer

**Viridian City, Kanto Region, Japan. O month, X day 2010...** _(Ha! Like I'd tell you the exact day and month...)_

Another quiet night in Viridian City as the massive storm clouds threaten overhead. Officer Claude Blackhawk sat inside the mini police station near the route/city border... slowly dozing off...

A crash of thunder hit the sky, startling the sleepy guard awake. "Geez..." he muttered. "Why do I have to be the one on nightly guard duty? What did I do to deserve this?" He immediately thought back many months ago, to the time he was talked down by the Chief, reminding him of the failure to capture the infamous Black Hat Bandit. "...Oh... That's right..."

A bolt of lightning flew across the sky and into the station's window, blinding Claude's blue eyes. "Damn... Looks like nature wants me to be awake for something important..."

As soon as the officer fully recovered his vision, he noticed a strange figure about twenty meters away from the station, sauntering it's way into town. Another flash of lightning dazzled over the trees, showing the figure's true form -- a strange green cloaked person with short magenta-colored hair.

"A traveller at this hour?" Claude muttered as the cloaked figure walked closer along the beaten path. "And in this weather?"

As soon as the figure reached the station, Claude opened the door and called to the person, "Um, excuse me..."

The figure stopped and turned her head to the officer, showing off her cold gray-eyed glare.

Claude, gathering the rest of his courage to talk to the fearsome young woman, continued, "There's a storm coming to town soon. And from the looks of it, it's going to be big. Would you like to take shelter inside the station until the storm passes?" At the same time, his mind kept saying, _Please say 'no.' Please say 'no...'_

The cloaked woman was silent for a moment before she uttered in what appeared to be a child-like voice, "...Do you know where I could find Daisuke Yamamoto?"

Claude, still bound in fear, replied dumbly with, "Nope, haven't heard of the guy..."

"...I see..." She paused for a moment. "If you happen to see him, please give him this." Without warning, a blade was thrown to the door frame of the mini-station, making Claude jump slightly, nearly screaming, had it not been for his hand, blocking the cry. His eyes slowly shifted to the small dagger protruding out of the door frame.

Another flash of lightning darted across the sky, reflecting off of the thin dagger. Claude quickly looked back to see if the mysterious woman was still there... but, there was no sign of her. Not even a trail of footprints...

Claude swallowed deeply, looked to the dagger once more and slowly pulled it out from its vertical rest. He slipped back inside the small station as the rain began its decent to Earth.

Restraining his panic, Claude carefully set the dagger down on the desk and picked up the phone, slowly dialing in a certain number...

"...Viridian Police Station," the voice on the phone announced. "how may I help you?"

"It's Blackhawk, Tanaka." Claude replied, looking at the storm brewing outside of the window. "Can I talk to the Chief?"

"I can't believe it! You're still up? I thought you'd be in Dreamland by now!"

"Just get me the Chief, Tanaka... NOW!"

"Alright. Alright... hang on a sec..."

Silence fell upon the phone as the rain began to hit the lone window.

"Yamada here."

"Chief, it's Blackhawk."

"This better be good..."

"Um... Yeah... Well... I've... learned my lesson, sir."

"'Lesson?'"

"Mm-hmm... Is it possible that I can get back to HQ?"

**(Scene: Viridian Police Department.)**

The new morning for Claude was a stressful one as his fellow officers gathered around his desk at HQ with the same stubborn glare as the cloaked woman from the night before.

"Claude, do us a favor." the tall and thin Officer Tanaka said after hearing Claude's story. "Go home and get some sleep. You stayed up for _way_ too long."

"I'm not tired, Tanaka." Claude replied.

"Yeah, right." the short and chubby Officer Ogawa remarked in his deep voice. "The way that story of yours sounded, was that of an insomniac's. You just can't believe an insomniac's words... at least that's what I've been told."

"And after that phone call to the Chief, I fell asleep standing up!" Claude added to finish the story off. What really happened though was that after the phone call, Claude passed out from overwhelming fear... and yes, he did pass out standing up.

"...Um... Claude?" the somewhat shy Officer Tezuka called. "Was that wanderer, by any chance, was wearing a green cloak?"

"Yeah..."

"And she had magenta-colored hair?"

"Yes..."

"And she had that look that made you think she was going to turn you into stone?"

"Yes! Where are you getting to with that?"

"I saw her, too!"

The door at farthest end of the room opened slightly. "Blackhawk!" the Chief's voice bellowed.

**(Scene: the Chief's office.)**

"...About what you said..." the Chief said as he circled his desk while Claude watched.

"That cloaked girl?" Claude asked.

The Chief nodded, rubbing his thin beard. "...It's seems that other officers on the night shift had seen her, too..."

Claude was at a loss for words.

"When they came back to HQ, they were all pale-looking, like they saw a ghost or something. Some were too afraid to talk and one was too afraid to even move for that matter..." He shook his head and rubbed his balding head. "it's a shame, I tell ya..."

"Did the officers that were able to talk say that the girl was looking for the Black Hat Bandit?" Claude asked.

"Yup. That's pretty much what she said. But, one brave soul asked who she was. She replied that she answered to... oh, what was it... 'the name of an ancient fate...' 'Noir,' I believe she called it..."

Claude's eyes widened. "'Noir,' you say?"

The chief looked to Claude. "You know something 'bout that, Blackhawk?" he asked.

"Not much." Claude replied as he shook his head. "I've only heard that name once before I came to Japan, but I don't know the meaning behind the name... How about you, sir?"

"I'm not sure what that name means, either... But, I bet you really want to know why I called you here in the first place."

"To inform me of the matter?"

The Chief shook his head. "That's only part of it. You gotta go find that Noir girl again and help her find the Bandit. Who knows? She could be better than you!"

Claude glared at the Chief. "Thanks!" he replied sarcastically.

"You're welcome!" the Chief sarcastically replied as he pushed Claude out of the office. "Run along, now!" With that said, the Chief slammed the door behind Claude.

Claude stood in silence, contemplating on how to find the Bandit and Noir in one day. He rubbed his short jet-black hair before he slipped both of his hands into his pockets but quickly pulled out his right hand, now with a brand new gash along his palm. He gently pulled out the blade with a line of blood and held it with his left hand. _If I have to find the Black Hat Bandit, _he thought. _I might as well give him this present from Noir..._

**To be continued...**

Hey, all you fanfic readers. T.R. Fanatic here and I want to thank you for reading my first fanfic that I'm putting up on the web site! (bows deeply)

Okay, so first chapter is done... rather quickly! The story's pretty vague at first, but count your lucky stars that I'm not drowning you with details! Then this fic would never end!

Once in a while I'll throw this little disclaimer at the bottom instead of the top so I don't give away any new characters and somehow spoil the story.

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, nor do I own Noir. (Please don't sue...) In this chapter, I only own the characters: Claude Blackhawk, Daisuke Yamamoto (Black Hat Bandit), Officers Tanaka, Ogawa, Tezuka, Chief Yamada and the character known only as Otaku. (pant, pant)


	2. The Infamous Unit

Author's Note: If you're a major fan of Neoshipping, you may want to stop reading... Butch and Cassidy are siblings in this fanfic. (Sorry, I'm an anti-Neoshipper...)

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or Noir. I do own Daisuke Yamamoto and Claude Blackhawk.

Forces of Darkness

Chapter 2: The Infamous Unit

The late afternoon sun was high above the border of North Viridian as a black SUV stopped by the local auto repair shop. "Excuse me..." the driver called to young man sitting near the garage entrance.

The young man, dressed in a repair suit, with spiky gold and red hair looked up from an article in the daily newspaper to see the driver, adorned in a black beret and sunglasses. "Yeah?" he replied.

The driver rubbed his eyebrow before asking, "Think you can help this poor old car?"

The young man raised one thin eyebrow and smiled. "Of course, we can!" he replied. "Go right on through!"

"Hey, thanks!" The driver rolled up his window and drove into the garage.

The young man watched with is ruby red eyes as the_ brand new _car parked itself within the garage walls and began its decent underground.

Though it may seem like an auto repair shop on the outside, the place is actually an elevator that makes a long and winding trip down to the Team Rocket Headquarters of both Viridian City and the Kanto region.

"...At least the password's catching on to the others..." muttered the young man known as Daisuke Yamamoto, the second youngest of the four Yamamoto siblings. But, he is possibly best known as the Black Hat Bandit: the infamous artifact and painting thief who proved his mettle to Giovanni by sneaking out of museums, undetected, with over a hundred pieces of art!

...But, that's all behind him... Though he is at the young age of seventeen, he wants to leave the Bandit life and start his Rocket career... that's if... he can keep his unit together like one big happy family...

Daisuke turned his head and called to the people to the garage, "It looks like someone's punching in for the night!"

"I'm doing the same after I punch you out!" A girl's voice yelled back. Soon after, a wrench was thrown from the darkness of the garage and right to Daisuke's head.

...Though it didn't knock him out, Daisuke was left with huge bruise on his jaw as he resisted all effort to lose his cool to the only person that was brave enough to talk back to him -- his only sister. The stubborn, fiery blonde haired woman known as Cassidy Yamamoto, the eldest of the Yamamoto siblings.

"Are you still mad that you lost the battle?" Daisuke asked calmly, rubbing the blood away from the side of his mouth.

Cassidy, with clenched fists, whined, "If we had known that Basho and Buson's team of steel Pokemon were going to wail on us before we even made out move, we wouldn't have been assigned to guard duty."

"Then it's your fault that _you_ had to pick a fight with them." Daisuke informed, finishing off with a smile.

"_You_ placed the bet!" Cassidy barked back.

"And _you_ accepted it! And, you never heeded my warning." Daisuke folded his arms and quickly hissed, "...Foolish!"

"I heard that!"

"Glad you did!"

"C'mon, you two, knock it off." Another voice called from the shadows of the garage. The voice of the oldest brother of the Yamamoto family. The green haired Butch Yamamoto, the "peacemaker" of the four-person unit.

"Aren't you the least bit ticked off that we had to lose to Basho and Buson?" Cassidy asked.

Butch shook his head. "I learn from the mistakes that I make. Being on guard duty gives me the chance to contemplate a new strategy for the next time we encounter them."

"And then revenge will be delivered... Yamamoto style!" Daisuke cheered, finishing off with a small cackle.

"Finally!" the fourth voice cheered. "After many months of upgrading, it's finally done!"

That fourth voice was none other than the youngest sibling of the Yamamoto family: Mondo Yamamoto, who once worked as the "Special Delivery Trainee" of Team Rocket, driving around in a red Jeep that has now been upgraded.

"Mondo, that Jeep doesn't look any different than it did when you began upgrading it!" Cassidy remarked. "What makes you think we're going to believe you?"

"You must be blind!" Mondo yelled back. "This Jeep now has a back seat and a trunk. It's now fully functional for any mission!"

Another wrench was thrown by Cassidy to Mondo's gut. "Don't ever say that I'm blind!" she scolded.

"All right. You're not blind." Daisuke said.

"Why, thank you, Daisuke." Cassidy replied.

"But, you're slow at catching wits!" Daisuke muttered, finishing off with a small laugh.

Cassidy, enraged by the remark, threw the rest of the tool box at Daisuke's head.

...Direct hit...

Butch stood in silence, sweatdropping at his fighting siblings. "Y'know, there are some times that I believe I'm adopted..." he muttered to Mondo.

"Well, knock on wood... or in this case, metal." Mondo remarked with a sweatdrop as he knocked on the hood of the engine. Swiftly, the hood popped open... along with a six-barrel chain gun. Mondo slid behind the gun and quickly closed the hood.

"Was that a chain gun that just came out of your Jeep?" Butch asked as he as well as Cassidy and Daisuke gave off blank stares.

"...T-that was only a figment of you imagination." Mondo stuttered with another sweatdrop. "Honest!"

Daisuke turned his head as he heard the sound of an oncoming vehicle -- a white patrol car bearing the name of the Viridian Police.

"Patrol car at three o'clock!" Daisuke called to his unit. "Act busy!"

Ignoring orders, the rest of the unit looked as though they were bored while Daisuke face-vaulted.

The patrol car stopped near the entrance to the garage. The driver's door opened and out came a familiar looking police officer.

"Why, if it isn't Claude Blackhawk!" Daisuke cheered in false joy.

"Daisuke Yamamoto!" Claude cheered back. "Long time, no see!"

"You never call!" both rivals spoke simultaneously. "You never write! How the hell am I supposed to keep up with you! Ah-ha ha ha ha ha... (pause and stare) Ha ha ha ha ha..."

Mondo, Butch and Cassidy couldn't help to sweatdrop at the sight of the two rivals "getting along."

"So, what brings you all the way out here?" Daisuke asked. "You're going to try and kill me again, are you?"

"Heck, no!" Claude replied. "At least not today..."

"Oh, ho! Such the jokester, you are."

"Actually, I was wondering..."

"Yes?"

"Do you possibly know somebody that goes by the name of Noir?" Claude asked.

"Noir?" Daisuke asked. "Noir... Noir... Nope, doesn't ring a bell..."

"Really? Well, in any case... she wanted me to give you this." Claude gently reached into his pocket, pulled out the thin dagger and gave it to Daisuke.

"What an interesting little present..." Daisuke muttered as he studied the dagger.

"Like that mysterious girl, I didn't come empty-handed, either." Claude said as he pulled the gun out of his holster and aimed it at Daisuke. "That would be rude of me..."

Daisuke looked up and saw the barrel of the gun in front of his face. "I thought you said you wouldn't kill me..." he said calmly, raising his hands.

"That was then, this is now! The opportunity is right in front of me! I must take it... as well as the bounty on your head!"

"You greedy bastard!" Daisuke said with a smile. It was at this time he heard a strange rustling noise in the lone tree to the right of him. Noises only a human would make...

"Daisuke, get out of there!" Mondo yelled.

"Mondo, it's under control." the calm Daisuke called back. "Now, I want you to go and start up the Jeep. Butch and Cassidy, get in the back."

"But..." the three siblings reiterated.

"No buts. That's an order."

"Oh, but they just want to see you die before they leave." Claude said with a disturbingly wide grin.

"Then, go ahead." Daisuke hissed.

"'Go ahead?'" Claude asked.

"Yeah! Go ahead and shoot! I dare you!"

Claude hesitated, stunned at what Daisuke said. "Wow..." he said in awe. "I can't believe you're making this easy on me." He began to pull the trigger when something silver knocked the gun right out of his hand... A dagger, identical to the one Daisuke held, even with the same hole set in between the blade and the handle.

**To be continued...**

Must stop there... must draw... suspense... Meh, you can go on the next chapter. I can't stop you...


	3. Fearless

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or Noir. But, I still own Claude, Daisuke and the officers mentioned in chapter 1.

Forces of Darkness

Chapter 3: Fearless

**(Scene: Outside of the fake repair shop.)**

"I know you're out there!" Claude yelled, gazing at the small park behind him. "Come out and show yourself."

"...Daisuke Yamamoto, I presume?" a voice called. To Claude, it was a hauntingly familiar voice.

Both Claude and Daisuke turned to the lone tree and found a mysterious girl with magenta-colored hair, dressed in a long, dark green cloak, walking towards the two.

Daisuke gave a half-smile. "I suppose you're the one called 'Noir?'" he asked.

"...Yes..."

"Quite an interesting alias... So, what brings you all the way out here?"

"Actually," Claude interrupted. "she came for the same reason as me: to kill you."

"Really?" Daisuke asked in false joy. "Now I have two people to watch out for."

"Daisuke," Mondo called. "hurry up and get in the car!"

"Mondo, is the car running?" Daisuke asked.

"This is a very bad time to joke around!" Cassidy remarked.

"Answer the question! Is the car running or not?"

"It is!" Butch stated.

"Good... Now, Mondo, I want you to do me a big favor, okay?"

"...Yeah." Mondo said uneasily.

"I want you to put the Jeep into sixth..."

"Oh, come on!" Claude yelled. "You don't want them to see you die an honorable death?"

"...and floor it!" With that said, Daisuke threw a smoke bomb to the ground, shrouding Claude and the Noir girl in a white cloud as he made his escape, jumping into the passenger's seat of the moving Jeep.

The Jeep made sharp left turn, nearly driving on the right side of the tires as it headed into the heart of the city.

"Bye!" Daisuke sarcastically said as he looked back at the smoke cloud. "Thank you mysterious girl for your distraction!"

A speck of light shimmered from the cloud and flew past Daisuke's arm, leaving behind a thin red line of blood in its wake. Daisuke stared at the tear in his disguise for a moment before bursting out in laughter.

"Great!" Mondo remarked. "Our commanding officer has finally lost it..."

"No, no," Daisuke said. "(...Well, at least not yet...) Seems to me that there's a new form of law enforcement in town... and it looks like she's relentless. Damn! I have new competition! I'm not going to get bored now!"

"'New competition?'" Butch asked.

"If my enemies can't hit me during our first encounter, they're not considered to be competition. That girl wasn't going to see me leave until she gave me a warning."

"Speaking of which..." Cassidy said. "Who was that girl anyway?"

"Noir..." Daisuke hissed. "She goes by the name of Noir... but that's gotta be an alias."

"Still, it's a creepy name for a creepy girl..." Mondo stated.

"You actually thought she was scary?" Daisuke asked.

His siblings nodded.

"You're sad!" Daisuke remarked with a sweatdrop. "All of you..."

"You didn't think she was the least bit scary?" Cassidy asked.

"If I was afraid of her, I wouldn't be alive right now." he muttered as he covered up the wound with his right hand and closed his eyes. "That's all there is to it..."

**(Scene: Outside of the fake repair shop.)**

Minutes after Daisuke's escape, the white smoke cloud dissipated, leaving a very annoyed Blackhawk in it's wake.

"Dammit, Yamamoto!" Claude screamed. "You coward!" He scanned the are around him, in search of Noir... but, unfortunately, she was gone too. Claude was left alone... standing by his police car... with four newly slashed tires. _Looks like she doesn't want me to join in on the fun... _he thought as he picked up the walkie-talkie. "Calling all units: a speeding vehicle has been spotted in North Viridian, heading downtown. It is a red Jeep, bearing the Team Rocket logo. It's also been reported that the Black Hat Bandit is in that vehicle..."

**(Scene: Main Street.)**

Word of the speeding Jeep spread fast among the Viridian Police as the first four police cars chased behind Mondo's "eighty-in-a-forty" Jeep that raced along Main Street.

"Hey, Mondo!" Daisuke called. "What time is it?"

"About five o'clock..." Mondo replied.

"Ahh, you don't get it..."

"What did I miss?"

"I know what time it is!" Butch stated.

"Do you?" Daisuke asked.

"It's time to prepare!"

"Prepare?" Cassidy asked.

"Prepare for trouble!" Daisuke noted.

"And we might as well make it double-double!" Mondo added.

"There you go!"

"To infect the world with devastation!" Cassidy began.

"To blight all peoples within our nation!" Butch added.

"To denounce the goodness of truth and love!" Daisuke continued.

"To extend our wrath to the stars above!" Mondo finished.

"Cassidy!"

"Butch!"

"Daisuke!"

"And Mondo!"

The four pulled off their light blue repair suit disguises to reveal their black Team Rocket uniforms (except for Mondo, who wore a white uniform). Each of the discarded disguises flew onto the four windshields of the trailing police cars, blinding the drivers inside and causing the cars to sway uncontrollably.

"We're Team Rocket circling the Earth all day and night!" Butch and Cassidy stated as two of the police cars crashed into cars parked on the sides of the street.

"Surrender to us now, or you'll surely lose the fight!" Mondo and Daisuke finished as the last two cars crashed into store windows.

**(Scene: Outside of the fake repair shop.)**

"That's right!" Claude yelled over the walkie-talkie. "For the tenth time, I am telling you the truth! Noir was there and she slashed my tires all to hell!"

"And that's why you can't chase after them?" Officer Tezuka paged back.

"I'd be chasing after them right now if that damn Noir girl didn't show up!"

"Speaking of which, where is she?"

Claude swallowed. "I think she went chasing after the Jeep."

"On foot?"

"Not sure. But keep an eye out on both the Jeep and Noir."

"Gotcha. Right now, a couple squads a putting up road blocks to stop the bastards in their tracks."

"Good. Keep me posted, okay?"

"10-4."

"Ogawa, how are things on your end?" Claude asked.

No response.

"Ogawa?"

"Actually, sir..." Ogawa replied. "I accidentally went window shopping..."

"Meaning?"

"The Jeep blinded all the cars that were chasing after them, and I ended up going through a store's window... No one was hurt thankfully..."

"How are the others?"

"I'm not sure... but there's this one girl dressed in green and she looks like she's helping the other officers out of the cars."

"Ogawa... is she wearing a green cloak?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Then... I... don't think she's helping them..."

"Oh, hang on a sec... Um, hello, miss... Don't worry about a thing here. Everything's under cont-"

Claude fell silent after hearing Ogawa's last words. _That's quite an assassin I hired... _he thought. _Looks like she doesn't want _anyone_ to join in on the fun... Well, that's a shame..._

**(Scene: Main Street.)**

Still along Viridian's Main Street, the speeding Jeep was reaching a dead end as a few police cars began to block their path.

"Stop!" Officer Tezuka yelled. "In the name of the Viridian Police, you're all under arrest!"

"Great!" Daisuke whined. "Now we have to give up!"

"That'll be a cold day in Hell!" Mondo yelled as he pushed a button behind the steering wheel. The engine hood opened slightly and a pair of six-barrel chain guns appeared from under the hood.

_Oh, that's right!_ Daisuke thought. _Mondo can go berserk during a police chase..._

"The Jeep's armed!" Officer Tezuka yelled to the other police car that was blocking the street. "Fire at will!"

The other police officers fired warning shots at the speeding Jeep, but they were unsuccessful to slow it down or shatter the bulletproof windshield.

"You're gonna have to do better than that!" Mondo yelled as he opened fire on the police cars, eventually hitting the gas tanks and causing both of them to explode. And once again, the Jeep sped past the burning rubble and police officers staring in awe.

"Blackhawk," Tezuka called on his walkie talkie. "we have a problem."

"What?" Claude yelled back.

"The road block didn't work!"

"What do you mean it didn't work?"

"Never mind that! Get the hell over here! The green angel of death is he-!"

**(Scene: Outside of the fake repair shop.)**

Claude could only listen as Tezuka's words were cut short. _What the hell's going on? _he thought. _Why is she going after my men as well as Yamamoto?_ He picked up the walkie talkie once more and screamed, "I need a chopper NOW!"

**To be continued...**

Wah-ha! Now the story's getting somewhere (and I'm working on very little caffeine, so bear with me)!


	4. Fight and Flight

Disclaimer: at the end of chapter 4

Forces of Darkness

Chapter 4: Fight and Flight

The red Jeep continued its race down Viridian's Main Street when Cassidy noticed something along the five-story buildings. "Daisuke." she called. "I have a question."

"Yeah?" Daisuke replied.

"Which person can be a substitute for a Christmas tree?"

"A Christmas tree?"

Cassidy pointed to the green cloaked girl that ran along the rooftops, catching up with the Jeep.

"Damn, she's fast!" Butch remarked.

"Can this Jeep go any faster?" Daisuke asked Mondo.

"It's too heavy!" Mondo whined. "One person has to get out in order for this car to go to a hundred!"

"You better not throw me off!" Butch and Cassidy stated.

Daisuke pulled out a Pokeball that was attached to his belt. "The cops are after you three." he stated. "That girl's only after me." He threw the Pokeball into the air and released the flying, fire breathing lizard, Charizard.

The mighty Charizard grabbed onto Daisuke's hands and threw the trainer up over his head and onto his back.

"I want you guys to head to the east edge of town by the port and wait for me there." Daisuke ordered. "If I'm not back in an hour, Cassidy, I want you take over my position, understood?"

"Sir!" Cassidy replied with a nod.

"If the police are still chasing after all of you when Cassidy's takes over... you know what to do..."

"Fight to the death?" Butch asked.

"Damn straight!" With that said, Daisuke took off riding on the noble Charizard and flew above the buildings and the cloaked girl. "Over here!" he called to the assassin as Charizard took a sharp right, parting from the Jeep. "Come and catch me!"

The cloaked assassin was still surprised about the orange dragon coming out from what appeared to be a red and silver baseball... But, she kept her thoughts and opinions to herself and didn't let it interfere with her mission.

...Except, one thing just had to interfere... A young man with black hair wearing a green shirt and a red headband was the only one walking down the sidewalk at the time. He carried a sketchbook in one hand, a pencil in the other, and had the dumbest smile plastered to his face. The assassin merely smiled and threw a dagger to the Pokemon watcher's neck before running along the rooftops once more to catch up with her real target.

**(Scene: A home in Minnesota.)**

At the same time, somewhere in Minnesota, a young writer woke up in the middle of the night screaming, "There _is_ a God!"

**(Scene: Main Street.)**

As Mondo had predicted, the Jeep began to slowly speed up as soon as Daisuke left, now racing at a hundred miles per hour.

"Aww, no..." Mondo whined as he looked into the rear view mirror.

"What?" Cassidy asked.

"The police are sending in the big guns now!"

A few blocks back, a white police helicopter appeared from another street and began to catch up with the Jeep.

Mondo, reluctant to be captured, pushed another button behind the steering wheel. A pair of hidden doors opened up behind Butch and Cassidy and another pair of six-barrel chain guns appeared.

Blackhawk was stunned. The Bandit wasn't in the Jeep but his siblings still were. "All right, where the hell is Daisuke?" he screamed to the Jeep over the megaphone.

"Ha! Like I would tell you?" Cassidy asked as she flipped the helicopter off.

"If you won't tell me, Cassidy..." Claude said as a chain gun appeared from underneath the helicopter. "I'm going to make sure Mondo and Botch will-"

Before Blackhawk could finish, a hail of bullets volleyed the helicopter, eventually hitting the propellers and sending the chopper skidding... um... gracefully to earth.

"Can't you even get my name right!" Butch yelled, standing up in the Jeep, holding one of the rear chain guns.

**(Scene: The sky above Viridian City.)**

Meanwhile, the chase between Daisuke and the cloaked girl among the rooftops seemed to continue without end...

"I'm getting pretty ticked off here..." Daisuke said with a twitched eyebrow. "How 'bout you, Charizard?"

Charizard gave a low growl in agreement.

"Then, let's teach her a lesson she'll never forget!"

Charizard turned to face the cloaked girl, still in a mid-air glide.

"Don't mess with the Black Hat Bandit!" Daisuke said as Charizard blew a powerful flamethrower at the girl. The girl swiftly dodged to the right and countered by throwing another dagger at her target.

Daisuke was thrown completely off of Charizard's back and fell to the alleyway below, landing in the garbage dump. Charizard followed after Daisuke, calling to him in a series of un-translated roars.

"I'm okay, Charizard..." Daisuke muttered as slowly got out of the dump. "I just wished that I would've fallen in something softer and cleaner than a pile of garbage bags."

Charizard roared back in shock, seeing that his master was wounded by a dagger to the right shoulder.

"Yeah, I know..." Daisuke replied. "She got my good arm..."

The cloaked girl jumped from the roof above and stood before Daisuke and Charizard, literally cornering them. "Daisuke Yamamoto." she said in her eerie child-like voice.

"Who the hell would like to know?" Daisuke asked the mysterious girl as he pulled the bloodied dagger out of his shoulder.

"...Why would I give you my name when it would only be meaningless after your death?"

"It's only courteous that I know the name of the one that is after me. Even if it means that I will die soon after..."

Silence fell between the two...

"...It's Chloe..." the girl finally said.

Daisuke smiled. "See? That wasn't so hard, now, was it?"

"Now, are you done wasting my time?" Chloe asked as she pulled out another dagger hidden within her cloak.

"Well, before you send me to Hell..." Daisuke stated. "I have to inform you that you're too far away to kill me."

"To me, any distance from my opponent is excellent to deliver a fatal blow."

"That last blow wasn't pretty fatal, was it?" Daisuke grinned, pointing at the deep wound. "...Now, I'm going to let you have one free shot to kill me off here and now-"

Charizard roared to Daisuke in the form of an objection.

"It's all right, Charizard..." Daisuke said, calming the overgrown lizard. "As I was saying, all you have to do is step forward once and then you can deliver the final blow. I won't dodge it, I promise."

Chloe stepped forward once, but before she could throw the dagger, the sound of three people screaming could be heard falling from the sky. Falling closer and closer before landing... right on top of Chloe...

"That was a nicer landing than the ones in the past..." the blue haired boy proclaimed.

"Yeah..." the talking Meowth added. "Who'da tink dat a Christmas tree would break our fall?"

"Would you two take a closer look?" the red haired girl shouted. "We didn't fall on a tree!"

It was obvious to Daisuke that the three that fell on top of Chloe were none other than the other (bumbling) trio of Team Rocket: Jessie, James and the talking Meowth. Like Mondo, Jessie and James dressed in white Rocket uniforms, showing that they were among the lower ranks, unlike their high ranked rivals, Butch and Cassidy._ To be saved by them..._ he thought, _means I'm more likely to _die_ now..._

"It's a goil!" Meowth said as the three stared at the unconscious Chloe.

"Not to mention, a very strange girl in a cape." James added.

"She looks like she could be a superhero from the medieval times..." Jessie remarked.

Chloe quickly regained conciseness as she opened her eyes and gave the Rocket trio a hellish-looking glare. But, before she could get up to retaliate, Charizard took the trio into his arms and flew away.

"You three were closer to death than I was!" Daisuke said as he rode on top of the flying Charizard. "I gotta say that you're all pretty lucky!"

"Lucky, as in: 'Lucky Lucky nice to Mewtwo?'" James asked.

"If you start singing, I'll make sure Charizard drops you!" Daisuke warned.

"WOOOBBUFFET!" the annoying Wobbuffet proclaimed as he came of his Pokeball and put more weight on Charizard's back, causing the winged creature to sink closer to the ground.

"Get back inside!" everyone else screamed.

**(Scene: Port of Viridian.)**

Along the ocean side of town, an empty cargo ship made its entrance into the port.

"Duke, we're right on schedule." the girl in the blue and black pirate uniform said to the guy with the matching outfit.

"Good to hear, Pearl." Duke replied. "We'll contact Archie as soon as we've captured the K specimen."

"Right."

The sound of the waves crashing into shore were quickly drowned out by the sound of screeching tires turning a corner. At first, the pair inside the boat couldn't see what it was that was making the noise... until, a few seconds later, when they saw the flying Jeep above them and landing right in the sturdy cargo ship.

"What in Team Aqua's name...?" Duke asked as he saw the people within the Jeep.

"Out of the ship!" Cassidy ordered as she and Butch, armed with the rear chain guns, aimed at the Aqua members.

"Now, just hold on a minute!" Pearl yelled. "Who the hell do you think you are?"

Cassidy posed, ready to recite the motto, but then quickly remembered. "We've already recited the motto once in this fanfic!" she yelled. "What makes you think we're going to recite again?"

"Fine!" Duke said. "Then we'll just have to recite our motto!"

Before the infamous motto music began to play, Jessie, James and Meowth fell on top of Duke and Pearl.

"You could have dropped us a little nicer!" Jessie whined.

"Look who came to save my life!" Daisuke cheered as Charizard landed in the boat.

Butch and Cassidy stared at their rival Rocket trio in shock.

"You must be kidding!" Cassidy blurted. "_They _saved _you _from Noir?"

"In your case, it's very hard to believe, but I tell the truth!"

"They... saved you?" Butch asked before he muttered inaudibly, "Were you really _that_ desperate?"

Daisuke nodded to the first question. "The assassin let her guard down for a split second, enough time for these three to make their crash landing."

"Unbelievable!" Mondo remarked.

"Isn't it though?" Daisuke agreed.

"Well, not only that, but that prototype body armor really works!" Mondo said, pointing to the hole in the right shoulder in Daisuke's uniform.

"What?" Butch asked.

"While I was working on upgrading the Jeep, I created light-weight suit that was able to block any attack that can prove fatal."

"Uh, Mondo..." Daisuke interrupted. "I'm not wearing the armor..."

"Then, you're really..."

Daisuke nodded. "I told you, she wasn't going to see me leave until she warned me of what's to come."

The sound of the police sirens wailed as they entered the port.

"Now that she's warned me," Daisuke added. "we all have to leave, and very quickly."

"Now?" James asked.

"But, what about our mission to capture dat twerp's Pikachu?" Meowth asked.

"Put it on hold." Daisuke ordered. "It is a known fact that all of us in this boat have seen that girl's face..."

"What girl?" Duke and Pearl asked.

The Rocket members ungracefully face-vaulted.

"That's right." Daisuke said. "You haven't seen her... Therefore..."

The two Aqua members were thrown from the boat to the top of the parked police car. Officer Tanaka and a very battered Blackhawk got of the car to see what hit them when at the same time, the cargo ship, now with the six Rocket members, made a full-speed exit out of town...

"We're too late..." Tanaka informed.

"Don't worry about it." Blackhawk said, looking out to sea. "As a Global Police officer, those Rockets haven't even left my sight."

"Well, if you have jurisdiction throughout the world, why can't you go after them now?"

"I would, Tanaka. I would in a heartbeat. But as you saw with the other officers..."

"But that wasn't Team Rocket that did all of that."

"That's right! Those officers fell because of-"

"The girl standing right behind you?" Tanaka asked.

Blackhawk turned around to find Chloe standing in front of him, pointing a dagger to his face. He smiled back. "As you can see," he said. "the Black Hat Bandit is not one of the easiest criminals to apprehend, and not to mention, kill. And his siblings are not a big help either..."

Chloe continued to give a cold stare at Blackhawk.

Claude closed his eyes and folded his arms. "I guess I should be the one to blame here, seeing that sending out my men was a futile move..."

"Your men hindered my chance to kill Yamamoto." Chloe said. "I had no other choice but to kill them..."

Blackhawk opened his eyes then quickly narrowed them. _I wouldn't think of it as 'hindering,' _he thought, not expressing his opinion to the intimidating assassin. _More like helping you to slow down that SOB from escaping..._

"If you wish to go after Daisuke," Chloe continued. "go ahead. But, if you get in my way, I will kill you..." With that said, she turned and left the officers, walking up the somewhat ruined Main Street.

"Wow..." Tanaka said in a whisper. "At least I'll know better not to cross her path... Hell, I guess it's better to avoid her altogether, huh, Blackhawk?"

Claude said nothing as he watched Chloe scale the incline along Main Street.

"Well, we better get back to HQ and inform the chief about this..." Tanaka continued.

_Ha! _Blackhawk thought, not even listening once to Tanaka. _She's going to kill me? She wouldn't dare! After all, I am the client that hired her to stop the Bandit in his tracks. _I'm _the one that gets to kill him and claim the bounty in the end. Then, I'll retire rich and happy at 30!_

**To be continued...**

The suspense is over... for now. But the mystery still remains... OOOOOH! All right, I'll shut up... And, yes. I had to throw in a little twerp-bashing. I've always wanted to do that! AND, that young writer from Minnesota is me. But, honestly, I'm not a religious fanatic...

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon. Don't own Noir. Don't sue me... I still own Claude, Daisuke and Tanaka, though. Plus, two new characters: the Team Aqua members Duke and Pearl.


	5. This is Where I Come In

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah... We all know by now that I do not own Pokemon or Noir... But, if I did, TR would've captured Pikachu by now and Chloe would live (then again, we'd all would like to see Chloe live...). And we all know that I own Claude, Daisuke and the character known as Otaku.

(P.S. _Otaku always talks in italics._)

Forces of Darkness

Chapter 5: _This Is Where I Come In!_

**(Scene: Somewhere in the middle of the Sea of Japan.)**

Midnight... The stolen boat continued to make its voyage to... Well, God only knows where...

"Hey, Mondo." Daisuke called to the pilot of the boat.

"Everyone else fell asleep and you're still up?" Mondo asked.

"Yeah... When you can see that Noir girl in your nightmares, you know something's wrong."

"You're afraid, aren't you?"

"Yeah..." Daisuke replied in a hiss. "That look of hers was colder than an Articuno's Blizzard attack."

"You must've gained that fear after she threw the dagger at your shoulder, huh?"

Daisuke glared at his bandaged shoulder, some of which was hiding under his tank-top. "Yeah..." he finally replied as he was repeating the attack over in his mind. "You might as well say that it hit me..."

The sorrowful silence was interrupted by a loud beeping noise coming from the trunk of the Jeep.

"Someone calling at this hour?" Mondo asked. "Daisuke, could you go and see who's calling?"

Daisuke walked over to the parked Jeep and popped the trunk door open to find a laptop computer with a flashing red light, signaling a call. He pressed the flashing red light and to his surprise, the annoyed Giovanni came on the computer screen.

"It's well past midnight!" Giovanni belted. "Where the hell are you?"

"Would you not scream so loud!" Daisuke yelled back. "There are people sleeping here, you know!"

"Not anymore..." the voice of Cassidy muttered. Behind Daisuke, Cassidy, Butch, Jessie, James and Meowth stood, with sleepy expressions, at attention.

"We heard you yelling and all..." Butch stated.

"And we knew you were yelling about us..." Jessie added.

"So you can skip your scolding while we grovel before you..." James finished.

"And just when I was gettin' my cat nap..." Meowth muttered.

Giovanni glared long and hard at the Rocket members. "Oh, this is going to be good..." he muttered.

"With all do respect, sir," Daisuke said as he struggled to salute Giovanni with his right arm. "forgive us for not reporting back in time."

"I see." Giovanni replied. "You had medical issues to attend to. Just how did you get your shoulder hurt like that?"

"From someone by the name of Noir."

"Noir?" Giovanni asked in a stunned manner.

"Do you know who Noir is, sir?" Cassidy asked.

"To think that Noir is going after us yet again..." Giovanni muttered.

"Come again?" Daisuke asked.

The Rocket boss shook his head. "It's nothing... Now, Daisuke, I need you to do one thing for me."

Daisuke nodded.

"You must call me back one week from now. Now a day early or a day late, is that clear?"

"Uh... yes, sir..." the confused Daisuke replied.

"Good." The screen of the computer went black before it went into its Team Rocket screen saver mode.

"What was that all about?" Jessie asked.

"Well, let's see..." Daisuke said. "There's this strange cloaked girl that goes by the name of Noir. Blackhawk knows about her and so does Giovanni. As for the seven of us (counting Meowth), we know nothing of the girl except for her appearance and the daggers that she has 'given' to us."

"Which means... what?" James asked.

"It's about time we called in the expert on this situation."

**(Scene: Otaku's House, Unknown.)**

_And from where I am, Saturday was drawing to a close. I sat in my anime-filled bedroom, at my eighth hour of playing another popular and never ending MMORPG. I was about ready to head into one of the towns, when I got a call on my second PC. I flew off of the first computer and onto the second, answering the call._

"Otaku!"_ Daisuke yelled._

_"Daisuke!" I replied back. "What the hell are you doing calling me at this time of night?"_

"From where you are, it's eleven o'clock in the morning."

_"Aw, damn! You found me out! So, what's up?"_

"Maybe you can help us. We're trying find out something about Noir."

_"Noir, huh? Well, in French, the term 'noir' is 'kuroi' in Japanese."_

"Black?"

_I nodded. "But I'm sure that's not the Noir you're talking about, huh?"_

"More like an assassin in a green cloak that's trying to kill me with a barrage of daggers."

_I laughed, thinking that it was a joke. "And you have proof of this?" I asked._

_It was then that Daisuke showed me the dagger he was hit with. A dagger that I've seen many times before in a certain anime series. "Holy shi-" I said as I fell off my chair in shock. I quickly got back into my chair and blurted, "Where in the name of Pocky did you get that dagger?"_

"From Noir, or her real name: Chloe."

_"Oh... my God..." I stuttered. "Oh, my God... OMG. OMG. OMGWTF!"_

"Wow... I didn't think you'd take this so seriously..."

_"Are you kidding me? You running into Chloe is like Pikachu running into Grim Reaper!"_

"(sweat drop) ...Great! (By the way, nice analogy...)"

_"I'll tell you what, I'll trade you that dagger for a bishop who will read you your last rights!"_

"Very funny, Otaku! I'm laughing my ass off here!"

_"But seriously, your chances of escaping from Chloe were very, very slim. (You lucky bastard!)" I paused. "Now that you mention the name of Noir and how this whole thing is connected, it does remind me of an article that I read not too long ago. Give me a second..." I flew off of the second PC and onto my third PC (yeah... I'm rich... haha) and opened up the mentioned article._

"So, what does the article say?"_ Daisuke asked as I came back to the second PC._

_"Let's see... 'Last week, Officer Claude Blackhawk, the second highest ranked cop of Viridian City's Police Department and an officer for the Global Police, raised the reward money for the capture or execution of Daisuke Yamamoto, best known as the Black Hat Bandit, from five million to thirty-five million...'"_

"Thirty-five million in Yen?" _Daisuke asked._

_"'...thirty-five million dollars.'"_

_Daisuke was stunned. _"A... I... U... E..."

_"Oro?" I asked._

"Wrong anime, Otaku!"

_"Sorry, that's a force of habit..."_

"Well then, what about Noir? What does Chloe have to do with all of this?"

_"Oh-ho! You're going to LOVE this! I've heard rumors that Blackhawk hired some assassin from Europe to kill you off and make it look like he killed you so he could get the reward. Ha-ha! (pose) All the pieces come together! It's looks like that rumors were true after all."_

"That greedy little bastard!"

_"But there's more to this than Blackhawk's side of the story. Chloe's mission to kill you is going in accordance with her chance to become Noir."_

"So, Noir is a title?"

_"Great! You're going to make me recite it now!"_

"Recite what?"

_"'Noir. It is the name of an ancient fate. Two maidens who govern death...'"_

"Then, where's this second maiden?"

_"No one knows just yet. But one maiden who is worthy of the title of Noir must find the second maiden that is also worthy of that exact title..."_

"That maiden is Chloe, right?"

_"Well... not yet. Chloe has this one mission, or in her case, one 'trial' to finish before the Priestess of the Soldats gives her the title of Noir."_

"Noir, Chloe, and the Soldats... All right, now you're just giving me a headache even a Psyduck can't stand!"

_"Sorry..." I paused for a moment and started to snicker._

"What's so funny, Otaku?" _Daisuke asked._

_"It's ironic... The Black Hat Bandit, Claude Blackhawk and Noir... '...and the Forces of Darkness will meet at the Manor for the final battle before the search for the True Noir begins.'"_

"What was that?"

_"Oh, sorry... I was just thinking out loud... Hey, question. Where are you heading now?"_

"Good question..." _He turned and called to the pilot. _"Mondo, where are we going?"

"The closest place that I can get to now is Seoul." _Mondo replied. _"From there, we'll see..."

_"Seoul, huh?" I asked. "There should be a Rocket base on the southwest area of the city. I'll talk with Giovanni about the situation and see what we can do about Chloe. By tomorrow, I'll talk to you and tell where you should go next."_

_Daisuke nodded. _"Okay. Until then, ja mata!"

_I nodded back. "Ja mata ne!"_

**To be continued...**

Wow, I spent my spring break writing five chapters of this fanfic! New personal record! Keep going. There's more!


	6. Anyonhasewhat?

Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Pokemon or Noir. I DO own Daisuke and General.

**Note: In this part of the fanfic, anyone that is talking with brackets like these ( ) means they're talking in another language. If these brackets found in the middle of a dialogue sentence or narration sentence, it's either an action or sound.** I know this sounds very confusing... I'm sorry, but the other brackets don't work...

Forces of Darkness - Part II: South Korea

Chapter 6: Anyonhase-what?

**Seoul, South Korea. O Month, O Day 2010...** _(In Daisuke's case, this is day 1)_

**(Scene: A harbor in southwest Seoul, South Korea.)**

The cargo ship that carried the six sleeping Team Rocket members and the Jeep slowly drifted towards the morning-tinted harbor in southwest Seoul, eventually hitting the dock and waking Daisuke up from a six-hour slumber.

"(What the hell do you think you're doing here?)" a fisherman called in his very fluent Korean. "(I swear, stragglers these days...)"

"Oh, great!" Daisuke muttered. "We've come all the way to Seoul and I can't speak a word of Korean!"

"(Oh, no!)" the fisherman whined. "(They came all the way from Japan and I can't speak a word of Japanese!)"

"Guys!" Daisuke called to his half-awake teammates. "Does anyone here know how to speak Korean?"

"(Quick! Does anyone here know how to speak Japanese?)" the fisherman asked the rest of the his crew.

"(There's no need for that!)" another voice called to the fisherman. It was the voice of another Team Rocket member, tall and burly, wearing the full uniform.

"(General!)" the fisherman said as he and the rest of his crew saluted.

"Quick, salute!" Daisuke said to his teammates. "It's a higher-ranked Rocket!"

"(Don't you have someplace to be?)" the general asked the fishermen.

"(Uh, right!)" the fisherman replied as he and the rest of his crew hopped into another boat and took off for the sea ahead of them.

The Rocket general turned to the Japanese Rocket members and smiled. "Ah, don't worry about them." he said in his fluent Japanese. "Whenever someone comes from another country, they freak out because they don't know the language."

"Great!" Daisuke cheered. "A fluent speaker. We were going to be lost for sure..."

Butch sighed sadly. "(And just when I was going to show off my knowledge of Korean...)"

"I have heard from Giovanni that you were coming here." the general informed. "But, where are my manners! I should introduce myself... From here on out, call me General."

"A pleasure to meet you, General." Daisuke replied. "And the people behind me are-"

"The unfriendly unit!" General stated.

Daisuke and the rest of his unit face-vaulted at the remark.

"What I've heard in the past is that two of the Yamamoto siblings can't seem to get along with the team comprised of Jessie and James." General added.

"Hey!" Meowth yelled to General. "What 'bout Meowth, huh?"

"It may look like we're getting along, sir," Cassidy stated in monotone. "but, in fact, we're deeply enraged that those two had to join us."

"And we feel the exact same way!" Jessie countered before she and Cassidy turned away from their rivals, crossed their arms and sighed angrily.

...Everyone else sweatdropped at this sight.

"And you, Daisuke Yamamoto," General stated. "you're ordered to keep everyone in your unit in line..."

"That's right." Daisuke replied. "It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it!" He threw his head back and laughed at the remark he made before Cassidy and Jessie drove their fists into his head.

"And to think that an assassin is after you! But, these are the times that we have to face with..." General paused for a moment. "Why don't we discuss the rest at the base, huh?"

"If breakfast is ready," a pleased James said with a gleam in his eyes. "we'll be there in a heartbeat!"

"(If it's not, I'll make a banquet for everyone!)" Butch cheered.

Everyone, except General, stared at Butch, trying to figure out what he said.

"(...What?) I mean, what?"

Everyone continued to stare while sweatdrops fell behind their heads...

**(Scene: Team Rocket Base, Seoul, South Korea.)**

After a hearty breakfast (possibly sweeping the kitchen storage clean with the way all six humans and the sixteen Pokemon ate...), the team went into a small meeting room where they informed General about the chase through Viridian through their own eyes.

"...And you had to leave the country because the cops were chasing you..." General asked.

"We had no other choice," Daisuke replied. "we were forced out of town basically."

"Weren't there other streets you could've gone down?"

"There were..." Mondo replied. "but, I'm really not fond of going into the Viridian Forest just to lose people..."

"And that girl that was trying to kill you..."

"We don't know much." Daisuke replied. "A Global Police officer hired her to kill me and make it look like he did it."

"If it was the Global Police that hired her, she must be famous."

"Well, we never heard of someone by the name of Kuroi." James stated.

"Chloe." Daisuke quickly corrected.

"Then, does she go by another name?" General asked.

"...Noir." Cassidy stated. "I think that's what it is..."

General gasped. "N-Noir, you say?" he stuttered.

"...Yeah..." Daisuke replied.

"I... I'd never thought that Noir would attack another one from Team Rocket..."

"Anudder one?" Meowth asked.

"Giovanni said almost the exact same thing to us last night." Jessie said.

"I see that he still remembers the whole thing..." General muttered.

"So, what happened back then that's reoccurring now?" Daisuke asked.

General paused for a moment before replying with, "All right, I'll tell you. But, promise me you'll keep this story secret from the others..."

**To be continued...**


	7. General's Story

Disclaimer: at the end of chapter 7.

Forces of Darkness

Chapter 7: General's Story

"It was in the late eighties, I believe." General began. "I was stationed back in Viridian at the time, going on missions as the lieutenant of a small unit. Aside from me, the unit consisted of the young Giovanni (at a higher rank than me...) and the infamous crook of the eighties: Wild Bill, the commander of our unit."

"I've heard of that name before." Daisuke stated.

"The one that did all of those Pokemon Center bombings?" Butch asked.

"That's right." General replied. "Forty Pokemon Centers bombed in forty different cities of Japan. Never caught by the police once! Except..."

"Except what?" James asked.

"When the rumors spread that Noir was after Wild Bill, the Boss at that time was rather stunned. But, Bill, he was a different story...

"'I'll get that Noir with a barrage of bombs!' he said to me once. 'No one can stop Wild Bill! No one!'

"And on and on he went like that. It made me resent him because of his bull-headedness. I knew, sooner or later, he was going to get his..."

"And he did, didn't he?" Mondo asked.

General nodded. "We were in Vermilion City at the time. Bill was attempting another Pokemon Center bombing when Noir showed up.

"It was a hell of a fight! Bill threw every bomb he had in his arsenal but Noir was too quick for him. Me and Giovanni would've helped out, but we didn't want to get close to the sword that Noir carried or the explosions that Bill caused.

"Sooner or later, Bill ran of ammo and we ended up being forced to retreat out of Vermilion and to safer ground."

"What about Wild Bill?" Cassidy asked.

"He was fine! Scared out of his cocky attitude, but fine.

"Anyways, we headed back to the Viridian base and did some research on this Noir character."

"And you came up with nothing, right?" Daisuke asked.

"Actually, we came across a book that told about Noir and something about '...the first candidate for Noir must overcome their last trial to eclipse the rising sun.'"

"And that means...?" James asked.

"That's easy!" Daisuke boasted. "Noir will come to Japan -- the Land of the Rising Sun -- and take up an assassination mission as the last trial."

"You're quite the sharp one." General commented. "But as we came up upon that discovery, Noir showed up yet again, but this time, offered a challenge to Wild Bill. She said that if Bill could fend off attacks for the next seven days and live to tell about it, she was going to give up the mission to kill him. He accepted and she left, even though the target was right in front of her.

"Bill had a plan to get Noir off his back. 'I'll travel the world for the whole week and makes sure she eats my dust the whole way!' he boasted. Me and Giovanni thought we were going to go on another harrowing adventure but Bill told us to stay behind, saying that it was too dangerous and all. He also said that he would call us on the seventh day to celebrate his victory...

"And so Bill set off that day, travelling the world as he said he would. Giovanni, my new commander, constantly checked reports coming in on where Bill was.

"By the end of the first day, Bill ended up somewhere in China. Second and third day, he was in Russia. The fourth, in the Alps. The fifth, in Germany. The sixth, in France...

"On the seventh day, Bill was on the border of Spain and France when Noir showed up one last time for an unforgettable battle. In the last hours before the deadline, Bill screwed up. A bomb detonated earlier than planned, catching both him and Noir in the blast. And in the end, neither of them won... They both lost...

"Me and Giovanni had no feelings to express over his death. We both thought the same thing: he was killed because of his cocky attitude.

"It was at that same time, the current boss of Team Rocket died. The cause was unknown, and to this day, no one still knows. It was said that Wild Bill was going to be the next Rocket boss, based on his rank. But since he was dead, Giovanni took over the job and is now the current boss."

"What an interesting story..." Daisuke commented.

"And to think that you're the one chosen to repeat Wild Bill's hellish journey." General noted. "I only pray that it doesn't end up the same way."

"I can't make any promises on that, sir."

"When Giovanni told me that Noir was coming after you, I didn't believe it. Not even when you came to Seoul."

"Pretty much the people that we've talked to didn't believe it, either." Cassidy noted.

"Oh, believe me, you're going to get a lot of that..."

As soon as General finished his sentence, a Rocket grunt entered the meeting room, saluted politely and said to General, "(Excuse me, sir. There seems to be a call for Daisuke Yamamoto.)"

"(We're busy here.)" General replied. "(Can't they give him a message?)"

"(I'd like to, sir, but she said that she needs to talk to him as soon as possible.)"

Daisuke leaned to Butch and asked in an whisper, "What's going on?"

The rest of the team leaned in to listen to the situation.

"The grunt said that you have a call and that it's from a girl." Butch replied.

"Ooh, Daisuke..." Cassidy snickered. "You lovebird!"

"Ha, ha!" Daisuke remarked. "Funny!" He glared over at his sister. "I don't think this is something to joke about!" He looked over to General and said, "General, if this is a call for me, see if they put the call through to here."

"And have everyone listen in on Juliet's call to you?" Jessie asked jokingly.

Daisuke glared at Jessie. "You too, huh?" he asked.

"We can put the call through." General replied.

"Great." Daisuke cheered. "And please make sure you track on where that call's coming from and send some troops out to that place."

"(Did you get all that?)" General asked the grunt.

"(Yes, sir.)" the grunt replied. "(And please tell your guests that I can also speak Japanese and that the girl didn't sound like she would be attracted to Daisuke one bit...)"

The grunt turned and left to turn the speakers in the meeting room on so that both Daisuke and the caller could hear and speak to one another.

"Hello." Daisuke said to the caller, eyes closed and a smirk on his face. "This is Daisuke. Who, may I ask, is this?"

"Hello, Daisuke..." the caller replied in her monotone voice.

Daisuke's eyes opened wide in shock and the smirk disappeared as he heard that cold voice once again.

The rest of his team gave off the same jaw-dropped expression as they too, heard the voice. General, on the other hand, sat in his chair, eyes closed, listening intently. _So this is the voice of the new Noir..._ he thought.

**To be continued...**

Yay, suspense nearly reaches its peak once more! Keep reading...

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or Noir. I do own Daisuke, General and Wild Bill though...


	8. Warning Calls

Disclaimer: If I said it once, I'll say it a thousand times over: I don't own Pokemon or Noir, but I do own Daisuke, General, Claude and Wild Bill.

Forces of Darkness

Chapter 8: Warning Calls

**(Scene: Team Rocket Base, Seoul, South Korea.)**

A feeling of cold washed over the team in the meeting room as they heard the assassin speak over the phone, via intercom.

Daisuke smiled as though he was going crazy. "If it isn't the one called Noir." he said. "I must applaud on how fast you found me."

"Isn't dat the one dat looked like a Christmas tree?" Meowth asked Butch and James in a whisper.

"Isn't her name Kuroi?" James asked.

"It's Chloe." Butch replied.

"Oh... Thanks, Botch!"

Butch returned the favor by pulling out a squeaky mallet and knocking James unconscious in one hit. "Baka..." he added.

"It's not that hard to keep an eye on your every move." Chloe replied to Daisuke.

"Is that right?" Daisuke asked with interest in his voice.

"That is, however, I am somehow unable to lose sight of you in seven days..."

Everyone was stunned to hear this. It was as though she was a psychic. Even General was now giving full attention to Chloe as she said nearly the same thing as the Noir that was going after Wild Bill.

"Keep going..." Daisuke said to Chloe.

"I will make an effort to abide by my client's offer in anyway possible. However, if I have not completed my mission to kill you by the end of the seventh day, I will let you go free and you will not hear from me again."

"Okay." Daisuke replied with a nod. "...When you say that you'll abide by your client's offer in anyway possible..."

"I will not endanger the lives of your teammates when it is you that I'm after in the first place."

"I thank you."

"Well, that's a relief..." Jessie said.

"Can we go home now?" Mondo whined.

"Your teammates should at least make an effort in protecting you." Chloe informed Daisuke. "They are family, after all..."

"What! You call them 'family!'" Butch and Cassidy asked Chloe as they pointed to Jessie and James.

"Consider this your first day." Chloe said to Daisuke, ignoring Butch and Cassidy's outburst. "By the seventh, you'll be on the other side of the world..."

Daisuke smiled. "And I look forward to overcoming each trial I face against you. Mark my words, Chloe, I will not make it to the other side of the world by the seventh day!"

"...You have no other choice..." Chloe said as she hung up.

Silence fell upon the room as everyone took in the threat.

Daisuke sighed, muttering under his breath, "You cold-blooded son of a-"

_"Daisuke!"_ a familiar voice cheered. The screen at the end of the room turned on, displaying Otaku's silhouetted face. _"Good afternoon!"_

"Good evening, Otaku." Daisuke replied. "We're talking to you from the future!"

_"Sorry, not in the mood to joke right now after I've eavesdropped on that phone call you had."_

"You heard?"

Otaku nodded. _"Forgive me for being skeptical yesterday. Never believed once that Chloe was after you."_

"It's okay."

_"Yeah, so about the last thing she said..."_

"Yeah?"

_"Don't you think that was a double meaning? Remember what I told you last night about the forces of darkness meeting at the Manor for the last battle and on like that..."_

"Ah-ha!" Daisuke shouted, pointing at Otaku. "I knew you slipped that in on purpose!"

Otaku sweatdropped. _"Um, 'kay... As I was saying, I found a fair amount of info about the Manor that was stated in this old book I found (...on eBay (snicker)). This Manor is found somewhere on the border that divides Spain and France."_

"That's the last place Wild Bill was reported to be in before he was killed." General stated.

_"And you'll be pleased to know that the Priestess of the Soldats resides within the Manor. ...Altena... I think that's her name, don't get me wrong..."_

"And, you're telling me this... why?" Daisuke asked.

_"She's the one that gives Noir, in this case, Chloe, the missions to assassinate her targets."_

"So, you're saying that we should go to this Altena person and tell her to stop Chloe from killing me?"

_"Basically, yes. And you should be quick about it!"_

"What? Leave now?"

_"Yeah. That's the second reason why I called you."_

"What's the first?" James asked.

_"When Daisuke took the phone call from Chloe, the whole base fell into a trap!"_

"A trap?" General asked.

_"The GP bugged the phone call! They're on their way to the base as we speak. And you can guess who's behind all of this!"_

As soon as Otaku finished his sentence, the door to the hallway was shoved wide open as an troop of armor-clad soldiers poured into the room, assault rifles drawn. "(Hands on your heads!)" one of the soldiers spoke.

Butch quickly reacted to the soldier's order, showing his teammates what they should do. "(It wasn't me this time, I swear!)" he whimpered.

**(Scene: Writer's house, Minnesota.)**

At the exact same time, someplace in Minnesota, the young writer, that made the random, religious outburst the night before, was up again this night, contemplating over an empty word processing document on the relic computer.

The song being played over the headphones ended softly before it began the next track: a mysterious jazzy-techno tune.

The young writer, curious to know what this new song was, checked the back of the CD cover, mouthing the words: "Salva... Nos..."

**(Scene: Team Rocket Base.)**

"(Wrong language, soldier.)" a familiar voice said. In entered the annoying Blackhawk, with his stubborn smirk. "(They do not know a word of Korean. But, all the more reason to confuse them.)" He looked to Daisuke, struggling to get his injured arm to move above the level of his collarbone. "(Ensign.)" he called to the soldier standing behind Daisuke, pointing the rifle at his head.

"(Sir?)" the ensign asked as he looked away from Daisuke a moment.

Daisuke, faking his struggle all along, reached behind his head, grabbed the muzzle of the rifle and pulled it downward, away from his head.

The ensign reacted to the sneaky move by holding the rifle tighter and pulling the trigger...

...when the rifle was aimed at his own foot.

The ensign hobbled in pain, letting go of the weapon as Daisuke pulled it away at the same time.

Having it rest upside down on his shoulder, Daisuke, still not looking at the ensign, fired two shots into the soldier's chest; committing his first "sin."

**To be continued...**

Yay, eight's done! (blows noisemaker) Okay, done partying. (pose) I must continue on! I cannot leave you hanging in suspense. ...Then again...


	9. Finding Your Alter Ego

And now, a message from T.R Fanatic:

If you're one of those people that didn't get a chance to read chapter eight, turn back right now! You missed a stunt only Kirika could pull! XD

Disclaimer: Yes, you guessed right! I don't own Noir or Pokemon! And I do own Daisuke, Claude and General.

Forces of Darkness

Chapter 9: Finding Your Alter Ego

**(Scene: Team Rocket Base, Seoul, South Korea.)**

Daisuke pulled the rifle off of his shoulder and aimed out to the other soldiers and the Rockets in front of him. "Under the table, now!" he called to the Rockets in his fluent Japanese.

As ordered, all of the Rockets slid under the table as Daisuke pulled the trigger of the rifle sending out a hail of bullets that left a trail of bullet holes, moving from left to right.

The other soldiers jumped back at the impact of the bullets hitting them, adding six more to Daisuke's "sinful" toll.

Claude, hiding behind the door when the shots were fired, jumped back into the room with his handgun drawn and fired a round at Daisuke.

He missed. The bullet only grazed his hair. Had it not been for a female grunt that tackled him at the last second, he would've hit Daisuke without error.

"Scatter!" Daisuke ordered as he hopped over the table and ran out of the meeting room, taking a sharp left, in the direction of the female grunt.

The rest of the Rockets did as they were ordered: Cassidy, Jessie and General taking the right route and Butch, James, Meowth and Mondo taking the left route.

Otaku was left sitting at his desk, looking at the empty room from his computer. _"Good job, agent." _he muttered, complementing the female grunt. _"He cannot die just yet. Especially not in the hands of that corrupt GP officer -- the one who disobeys his superior's orders to stay in Japan."_

Claude quickly regained consciousness and peered inside the empty room as the monitor turned off. He closed his eyes sadly and rubbed the small cut under his left eye. "Who in the hell... was that?"

**(Scene: A hallway leading to the laboratory.)**

Coming from another hallway, a second wave of soldiers encountered Daisuke and began to fire at him.

Daisuke slid behind another hallway as the bullets flew past him.

"Damn! I'd never thought you'd be the life of the party!" a voice from behind told Daisuke. He looked back and found the Rocket grunt that informed of the phone call.

"I didn't think so, either." Daisuke replied. "Did you find out the location of that phone call?"

"Yeah! You'll never guess where, though."

Daisuke smiled. "It was here, wasn't it?"

The grunt nodded. "When we looked for that person that made the call, she disappeared. Then the military barged in and I've been here ever since!"

"Wonderful! Do you where I could find Mondo's Jeep?"

"It should be over by the hangar. We got word that you guys have to go the border of France and Spain. The closest place we can take you is Italy via cargo plane. You'll have to make the rest of the trip by Jeep."

"That's fine. As long as we get to this Manor place and see if I can get a premature freedom from my death sentence."

"Here. Let me take the rifle. I'll hold these guys off while you make a run for it, okay?"

"You sure?" Daisuke asked, handing the rifle over to the grunt.

"Yeah." the grunt replied. "No use in staying here! You'll get killed off in no time flat! Now, get a move on!"

Daisuke got up and made a few steps down the quiet hallway. "Just remember, if we both survive this, I owe you big time!"

"Go already!" the grunt said, shooing Daisuke away.

Little did the grunt realized that he was being watched through the reflection of a silver dagger...

**(Scene: A hallway leading to the bunkers.)**

Meanwhile, on the other side of the building, Jessie, Cassidy and General ran along the series of hallways.

"The hangar that you're looking for is on the other side of this base." General informed. "It may sound dumb of me to go this way, but rest assure that we will not encounter any of the GP forces."

As the three turned the corner, they were ambushed by a GP squadron with guns drawn.

"You were saying?" Jessie and Cassidy said as the three rose their hands in the air.

"WOOOBBUFFET!" the annoying blue Pokemon said as he made another random appearance, standing in front of the trio.

"Get back inside!" Jessie yelled.

Lacking in knowledge of Japanese and taking this as an attack, the GP troops fired at the Rockets.

Wobbuffet made another salute-like pose, causing him to be surrounded by a red aura, causing all the bullets to stop mid-air in front of his face.

"WOBBA!" the Pokemon yelled as the bullets turned one-eighty and were fired back at the troops. (This would be considered as seven for Jessie's toll, now rivaling Daisuke's.)

(Speaking of rivals...) "Is it over?" Cassidy whimpered, embracing the person next to her.

"You're next!" the person that Cassidy embraced growled.

Cassidy opened her eyes and saw that she was embracing a very ticked-off Jessie. She quickly let go and looked away furiously. "I'm going to need a bath when this is done!" she hissed.

"Same here!" Jessie hissed back.

"True. You mustn't bathe in the smell of death after a while..." General said, not even knowing that his nose was bleeding...

Cassidy and Jessie, turning and seeing General's bloody nose, grabbed him by his collar and threw him down the hallway... where another GP team of seven were appearing from another hallway and collided with the flying General.

"It was only a flesh wound." General whimpered as he laid there, crushing the soldiers under him. "A bullet grazed my lip... that's all..."

**(Scene: A hallway leading to the dojo.)**

About two minutes of wandering aimlessly through the base, Daisuke stopped in a small, poorly lit hallway, with two sliding doors between him and a fork in the road ahead of him ((holding laughter) Fork... (snicker) sorry, couldn't help it...).

He could not make the choice to run or hide. He knew that both choices were good ideas but he feared that they would have the same outcome.

Slowly, the door on his right began to slide open. Daisuke slid his hand into his pocket and pulled out the dagger that he was struck with, aiming the tip at the opening door.

When the door was opened wide enough for a person to fit in, a hand reached out, grabbed Daisuke by his arm and pulled him into the room.

Stunned by the small ambush, he nearly tripped into the sun-tinted dojo. "What the hel-" he yelled before his mouth was covered by a hand.

"Shh..." the voice of a female, clad in a black Rocket grunt uniform, said. "They won't suspect that you're here if you keep your mouth shut!"

Daisuke broke free of the hold, turned and pointed at the female Rocket grunt. "You obviously need to have more respect for your superiors!" he barked.

"You should be thanking me for saving your life!" The girl hissed back.

"Wait... You were the one who tackled Blackhawk?"

"That's right! My name's Kuro-...hey!"

Before the grunt could finish introducing herself, Daisuke ran past her, dagger in hand, to the moving door and drove the dagger into the sneaky GP soldier's gut. As the soldier fell, Daisuke took his hands off of the dagger and grabbed the assault rifle from the soldier's hands and the handgun in the holster.

With the rifle in his right hand and the handgun in his left hand, Daisuke fired at the charging soldiers, coming in from both sides.

**(Scene: Writer's house, Minnesota.)**

The young writer from Minnesota looked at the CD player as the song ended without warning. "It was getting good, too..."

The writer glared at the CD player, memorizing the track number. "Fourteen... I gotta remember that..."

**(Scene: Inside the dojo.)**

The female Rocket grunt watched in interest as Daisuke slew seven more soldiers without mercy, never looking once at the soldiers.

Daisuke turned back and looked at the grunt, her hair and eyes hidden under the beret. "Sorry," he apologized. "What was that?"

The grunt smiled. "My name's Kuroi. I've been ordered to protect you."

"Really? Who gave out the order?"

"Sorry, I can't tell you. It's confidential."

"Aww, that's all right." Daisuke said as he dropped the rifle and handgun. As he stepped back into the dojo another figure appeared behind him, handgun drawn.

"Don't move." the voice of Claude said to Daisuke.

"Again?" Daisuke asked. "You're more reluctant than ever. Is the reward money on my head that valuable to you?"

"Silence!"

Kuroi ran over to the side of the dojo and took a kendo sword out from the rack. "Daisuke, catch!" she said as she threw the wooden sword to Daisuke.

Daisuke took the sword by the handle and turned to face Claude, aiming the tip at the officer's face.

Claude burst out in laughter. "You're going to beat me senseless with that thing?"

"I'm not that good, but I'll try!" Daisuke barked back.

"Ha! You'll try? I bet you couldn't even swat a _fly!_" Claude fired a round from the pistol, knowing that he would hit his target, without flaw this time. _Even if he blocks with that useless kendo sword, the bullet will still have enough power to drive through his cold heart!_

Not even knowing of his own actions, Daisuke held up the sword in front of him, hoping to block anything that comes his way. _What the hell am I doing? This flimsy sword couldn't even break brittle bones!_

**To be continued...**

AWW! You must hate me for stopping here, huh? Too bad:D There is more! This is NOT the end!


	10. Tadlos

This is probably the last chapter of the F.O.D. - Part II. I'm trying to make it so that all parts within the story are five chapters long. Well, (cracks knuckles) here goes nothing!

Disclaimer: I do not own Noir or Pokemon but I own Daisuke, Claude and General.

Forces of Darkness

Chapter 10: Tadlos

**(Scene: Inside of a dojo at the South Korean Rocket Base.)**

By now, Daisuke thought for sure that he would be feeling the stinging pain of the bullet driving through his body, but it wasn't there... All he heard after the gunshot was the sound of a ricochet, like that out of a crappy western movie.

"What the...?" Claude asked in a hiss as he saw what appeared to be a metal pole peering out from the hole in the kendo sword. Haphazardly, he fired two more shots at Daisuke, hoping to hit his target.

Unconsciously, Daisuke directed the sword to block both of the bullets at an unheard of pace. The bullets broke through the tatami barrier but were still unable to scratch the impenetrable metal barrier underneath.

Kuroi smiled as Daisuke blocked all three bullets with the reinforced kendo sword. _You were right... _she thought. _He is good!_

Claude, frustrated over Daisuke's ability to block every shot, fired once more...

...but the gun clicked.

He attempted to fire three more times but the gun clicked on all three rounds. _Damn... out of ammo..._ With every ounce of strength he had, Claude threw the handgun at Daisuke, hoping to bruise him at the very least.

Regardless of how strong the attack would be, Daisuke blocked once more with the ruined kendo sword. The rest of the wood shattered by the impact of the gun, revealing its true form: a black metal sheath.

As the last splinters fell on the mat, Daisuke rushed up to the GP elite with the sheath raised over his head. He brought the sheath down on Claude's right shoulder, leaving a good enough blow that possibly fractured his collarbone.

Claude dropped to his knees at the strength of the blow while Daisuke turned the sword ninety degrees and threw another blow, now on the right side of Claude's jaw.

Claude tipped to his left, hoping that his rival was done with his onslaught.

Daisuke quickly let go of the sheathed sword with his right hand and made a fist, showing that he was going to finish off with a signature move that almost all Rocket members know. "Ro... ke... tto..." he began.

"Oh, shi-!" Claude yelped.

"Punch!" Daisuke finished as he drove his fist into Claude's gut, shoving him from the dojo to the room across the hall, breaking through the thin sliding doors and passing out in defeat.

Daisuke sighed deeply, knowing the battle ended victoriously for the Team. Yet, one thing still puzzled him...

"Honestly, who would want to cheat and reinforce a kendo sword with a metal sword?" he asked.

Narrator: ((Face-vaults) That's not what I meant... Oh, what the hell... No one listens to me anyways...)

"It had to be hidden somehow. It's the base's best kept secret." Kuroi informed. "The sword forged from the depths of Hell's fire: Tadlos."

"Tadlos, huh?" Daisuke asked. "Interesting..."

"It's a rare type of sword, a reverse-edge sword." Kuroi added as Daisuke unsheathed the blade.

"A re-reverse-edge _oro_?" Daisuke asked as he saw his reflection in the blade.

Narrator: (Psst, wrong anime, Daisuke!)

"Yes. All that wield that sword are blessed with unheard of reflexes and awesome strength." Kuroi then fell silent. _But, there's a downside..._ she thought._ All that wield it will eventually-_

Before she could finish her thoughts, the rumbling sound of a engine and the screech of tires from the outside drew closer to the dojo. The pair of circular halogen headlights could be seen through the long window, illuminating the room, along with Daisuke and Kuroi, blocking the light from their eyes.

_This could mean only one thing... _Daisuke thought.

The sound of the motor was muffled as part of the wall busted open by a familiar red Jeep...

"I can't look!" the voice of James whined. "Is it over?"

"I thought I told you to turn right at the bunker, not left!" the voice of Butch exclaimed.

"I didn't know you said that!" the voice of Mondo replied back. "You were saying everything in Korean! I couldn't understand a word you were saying!"

"And you two couldn't pick a better time to argue?" Daisuke asked.

The arguing brothers, along with James and Meowth in the back seat of the Jeep, looked ahead to find their commanding officer. "Daisuke?" they all asked.

"No." Daisuke replied sarcastically. "I'm the True Noir!"

Everyone inside the Jeep turned deathly pale, as though they saw a ghost.

Shocked, Mondo pushed the button behind the steering wheel that readied the front chain guns.

"I was kidding!" Daisuke corrected. "Geez! Can't you take a joke?"

"Apparently not..." Kuroi mumbled. "Who are these guys anyway?"

"I'd like you to meet my brothers, Mondo and Butch." Daisuke said to Kuroi, presenting the rest of the team.

"Um, hi..." the older and younger brother replied back shyly.

"And, James and Meowth: the arch-rivals!"

"Hey! Who ya callin' an arch-rival?" Meowth asked.

"Sorry, we never got your name..." James said.

Kuroi posed as though she was going to recite another version of the motto. "The name's Kuroi! It may look like I'm a Rocket grunt, but I'm an elite-incognito! I could show you my true identity under the beret and mask, but then I'd have to kill you! (I'm not kidding!)"

Silence fell upon the whole team.

"Great..." Butch commented.

The loud sound of the propellers from a helicopter flew overhead and appeared over the roof of the building, flying past the Team and the Jeep.

"All right!" Daisuke cheered. "Reinforcements!"

"Wait a minute..." Meowth said as he pulled out a pair of binoculars. "Sumthin' 'bout 'dat helicopter seems real fishy ta me..." He looked carefully at the lettering written on the helicopter. "I can't read most of it, but I see da letters G and P on it!"

The helicopter turned around and headed back towards the Jeep, shining its spotlight on the red vehicle and readying its chain gun.

"Greeeeat!" Daisuke said as he rolled his eyes. "More GP closing in on us!"

As the helicopter drew closer, a random missile flew up to the aircraft, exploding on impact. The burning pile of metal, that was once a helicopter, fell to Earth, landing between two other buildings.

Another Jeep drove up to the red one. It was a Jeep that was similar to Mondo's upgraded Jeep but painted in black with the red Team Rocket "R" painted on the hood. Inside the Jeep was Jessie, taking the wheel and Cassidy, holding an empty mortar.

"Oh, good Lord..." Daisuke muttered under his breath. "My sis has gone into attack mode... No one's safe now..."

_Oh, my God! _Mondo thought. _Cassidy and Jessie getting along? Do I see any Piloswines flying?_

"Hail, hail, the gang's all here!" Jessie said.

"Now, let's get outta here before another random person attacks us." Cassidy noted.

"Speaking of random people," Daisuke said. "where's Noir? I thought she was going to come and raise hell again!"

Narrator: (YES! He finally gets it after... what? Almost two pages! You dense child! XP)

"I didn't see her around." Kuroi said. "Heck, if I did, she would've tracked you down and killed you by now."

"Honestly?" Daisuke asked in disbelief.

Kuroi nodded. "But we're not outta the water yet. Let's get to the hangar and board the cargo plane before Noir _does _show up."

And with that said, Daisuke and Kuroi hopped into the back of the black Jeep and both of the Jeeps drove off to find the hangar.

**(Scene: The hangar of the TR Base.)**

A few minutes passed and both the red and black Jeep arrived at the hangar and the massive cargo plane towering over them.

"Holy Magcargo!" Cassidy blurted. "That's huge!"

"It's the first of it's kind." Kuroi informed. "The heavyweight long-ranged cargo plane, codename: Lugia."

"The name fits!" Jessie noted. "I bet you could fit one in there."

"At the most, you could fit ten Lugias inside that plane!"

Everyone whistled in a synchronized chorus...

Another sharp turn and both of the Jeeps slid inside the plane, parking in the massive cargo hold.

Kuroi jumped out of the black Jeep, ran over to the back of the plane and latched the reinforced cargo net onto both sides of the plane. "Don't worry about me." she said to the rest of the team. "I'm just making sure we don't lose anything while we're on this trip. You guys can head upstairs. There should be a huge dining room..."

Without a moment's hesitation, James jumped from the red Jeep and began to run towards the front of the plane, cheering, "Eeee! Food! Food! Food! Food-"

His marathon-like run was halted by Daisuke, pulling him away by the back of his uniform. "Easy, James!" he said.

"But I'm hungry now..." James whined back.

"Yes... But there's something fishy about being here among the wooden cargo boxes."

"Speakin' of fish," Meowth said. "I could go fer some fish right now..."

"Well, can you wait a sec while I check something out?"

"This isn't some dirty trick, right?" Cassidy asked. "You're not going upstairs to steal our food, are you!"

"No!" Daisuke replied. "Of course not! I wouldn't dare! I wouldn't steal food from (a pig like) you!"

"I HEARD THAT!"

Daisuke didn't reply to the outburst (knowing all too well that he could get killed off) but took out the samurai-like sword Tadlos and pulled the black sheath away, revealing the clean silver reverse-edge blade. "Everyone, do me a big favor: close your eyes and count out loud to..." He hesitated. "seven, please."

As told, the rest of the team closed their eyes. Kuroi, still standing next to the net, lowered the rim of her beret, making it look like she was closing her eyes.

"Ready?" Daisuke asked.

"Yup!" Mondo replied.

Daisuke smiled and held out Tadlos to the randomly placed wooden boxes. "Sei... no!" He began to sprint out to the closest box on the left side of plane and threw a slash as he ran past.

"One..." Mondo called out.

Daisuke then pivoted right and ran to another box near the middle, throwing another slash.

"Two..." James called.

Daisuke pivoted left, aiming Tadlos to another box, stabbing the air behind it.

"Tree..." Meowth called.

The Rocket pivoted once more to the right and hopped over a box while throwing another slash.

"Four..." Butch called.

He hopped onto another box and made another downward stab to the space left of him.

"Five..." Jessie called.

He jumped from the box and ran past another box, throwing a slash at the blind spot.

"Six..." Cassidy called.

He made a final charge at a box in front of him and drove the sword at the space in front of him.

"Seven..." Kuroi hissed as she smiled wickedly.

Daisuke came back to the rest of the team as they opened their eyes. "Yeah, just as I thought..." he said. "Seven..."

"What do you mean? Butch asked.

Daisuke presented Tadlos to the rest of the team, stained in red. "Seven GP soldiers thought they could be stealthy..."

Kuroi continued to smile, still hiding her eyes under the rim of the beret. _It's just like she said... _she thought. A cold burst of air rushed up to her. She looked up and saw Daisuke, aiming the bloody Tadlos at her face.

"You peeked..." Daisuke said with a frightening red-eyed glare.

"Yeah... I did... Sorry..." she replied.

"Attention all units!" the voice of General came over the intercom. "The Lugia will be departing for Italy in a few moments. Please report to the dining hall at this time to await further instructions."

As General recited the same message in Korean, James cheered once more. "Eeee!"

"All right! All right!" Daisuke said as he slid the sword back in the sheath. "We'll go eat!"

"WHOO HOOO!" everyone else cheered, pursuing James as he made a mad dash for dinner.

Everyone... except Kuroi, who stayed behind and watched Daisuke walking away while pulling the strap that carried the sheath over his shoulder. She slid the rim of the beret up, hoping that she could hide that magenta ponytail of hers inside her beret. _When one wields the sword: Tadlos, _she thought, looking back at the time when someone once informed her of the sword. _...that person is gifted with a spirit of an active volcano... As nimble as molten lava and just as powerful... leaving death and destruction in its wake... Sooner or later, the one who wields Tadlos will give in to its raw, unlimited power and eventually..._

_"...go insane..."_

**To be continued...**

Whoo! Long... I know, sorry... Well...

There ya have it, folks! Part II is DONE! But, there's more! This is the halfway point of this fic! I'm not stopping just yet!

On a side note, when Daisuke said, "Sei... no!" It's Japanese for "Ready... go!"


	11. Halftime Report with Otaku and Writer!

AN: Nothing to fear, folks... I'm just recapping the story... a little. (And this is what happens when you leave me alone with my thoughts and a 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew... It's seriously NOT pretty at all!)

Disclaimer: I don't Pokemon or Noir. I do own Daisuke, Claude and Otaku and anyone else that I've mentioned earlier.

Another note: _Otaku's voice is in italics. _While the Writer's voice is in plain text, unless said otherwise.

Forces of Darkness

**INTERMISSION!**

Chapter 11: Halftime Report with Otaku and Writer!

_Gooood evening, everyone! Welcome to the halftime report of Forces of Darkness! I'm your host Otaku, coming to you live from an undisclosed location, best known as my room. I'm joined via satellite with the writer from Minnesota!_

Writer: Yay, another cameo!

_So as the members of Team Rocket take off for Italy, we have to tell a summary of what has happened and delve a little deeper into some vague parts scattered throughout the story... Oh, crap! How many hours do we have to kill?_

Writer:(looks at watch) Three hours.

_Damn, this is going to be long... Well, _(claps)_ let's start with the question: who is Daisuke Yamamoto?_

Writer: Otaku, you've talked about this person so many times to me that my ears bleed just hearing the name! Save your breath while I tell the audience.

_Fine._

Hell, I'll tell about the whole Yamamoto family.

_Whatever works..._

It starts eleven years ago, when the Yamamoto siblings were orphaned after their mother and father died in a "car crash" (which turned out to be a brutal TR mission) and they were forced to be under the control of some crazy family members, claiming to be their stepparents (yeah, don't ask...).

So, a year passed and all four siblings ran away from their home in Viridian, and ended up being separated in the forest (Hence, why Mondo didn't want to go in the forest when General asked about the car chase).

Cassidy and Butch ended up getting out of the forest and traveled to a place called Pokemon Tech., where they stayed and studied for a good number of years before joining TR somewhere in their early teens.

Mondo... somehow ended up in Fuchsia City, where he took up the life of a ninja under the teachings of Gym Leader Koga... but, it never really worked out and he left... He soon joined the Team Rocket Academy where he found his calling in helping other Rocket members.

As for Daisuke, he went back to Viridian as soon as he lost his siblings... accompanied by a Rocket grunt! He joined TR the next day and underwent massive studying at T.R.U.T.H. (the acronym for Team Rocket University and Training Hall).

Three years later, he graduated, and began to take up missions to steal rare, priceless artifacts, paintings and such from museums.

As for his nickname, the Black Hat Bandit, he got the name from police officers because of the hat that he wore, hiding his wild gold and red hair.

Fast-forward seven years and the police are getting really pissed about not capturing the Bandit. So, they ask the Global Police force if they can get at least one elite officer to take the Bandit down. Who does the GP get for the job? The arrogant and greedy Claude Blackhawk from New York.

Blackhawk manages to take down the Bandit... Oh, this is where the story begins and all...

_But you did a good job, anyways... _(applause)

Yeah, that was... what? Ten minutes?

_Something like that... Oh, it looks like we have a caller! (I don't know why, though...) Go ahead, you're on the air._

Caller #1: Yeah, hi. I have a question...

Go ahead.

Caller #1: So, I see that Chloe's in this fic. So, why aren't Mireille and Kirika somewhere in there as well?

_Good question. It was stated that this story takes place waaay before episode 1 of Noir. Before Mireille and Kirika met up in Japan and had to go on the pilgrimage. It's here that Chloe must go on her final trial to kill Daisuke and to become truly worthy of the name Noir. She's committed so many sins before this, it's not even funny! Does that answer the question?_

Caller #1: Pretty much.

It should also be noted that anyone that has seen episode 10 or 12 of Noir will have a good idea on who Chloe is in this story. As for Team Rocket, for those that don't know, pretty much EVERY episode of Pokemon has Jessie, James and Meowth in it. Cassidy and Butch appear like... once in almost every series known. As for Mondo, you have to find the CD Drama sold only in Japan. Unless your name is Otaku and you have the power of eBay... (laughs)

_Oh, shut up! _(sighs)_ And it looks like we have another caller. Go ahead!_

Caller #2: I just read chapter 10, and I still don't understand the concept of the sword Tadlos.

_God, how do I say this... Um... Oh, duh! Tadlos, as stated in this book I have, was forged from the depths of Hell's fire by a smith who was truly loyal to the Soldats. (HINT: Soldat Tadlos ...do you see it?) I can't read how many years ago it was because there's a stain right on the year! It was supposed to be given to one of the true maidens of Noir but a thief stole it from its rightful place and it was lost and forgotten for many years... blah, blah, blah..._

Until it ended up in South Korea where it was hidden in a kendo sword. And God only knows how it got there, many many miles away from where it was forged!

_That's right. We'll take one more call..._

Caller #3: You're the one who hired Chloe, didn't you, Otaku?

_What?_

Caller #3: Answer my question!

_No, of course not!_

Caller #3: You're lying!

_We don't have time for this... Next call!_

Caller #3:You have plenty of time...

_Get off the phone, PLEASE! Quick! Next call!_

Caller #4: Why did you have to kill off Tracey?

(silence)

...Um...

(Crickets chirping)

_...Next call..._

Caller #3: Why do you ignore me, Otaku?

_Because I can! Next!_

Caller #5: Yeah, here's a good question. If Chloe threaten Daisuke that he was going be forced to battle with her in South Korea, why didn't she show up for it?

Okay, she IS there and she is still chasing after Daisuke. You just gotta find her, that's all. I suggest that you read Part II over again and "find" her.

_It's like a verbal version of _Where's Waldo?(laughs) _I think we have time for one more call._

Caller #6: Otaku.

_Yes?_

Caller #6: It's the middle of the night. Everyone's asleep and I'm into my second day on the run! Why do keep on talking...?

_Hey, it's Daisuke!_

Daisuke: Yeah, yeah... Moshi, moshi... Or, I should say _bornjourno_... or however you say it... My Italian is horrible...

_Oh, no. You're not..._

Daisuke: Yeah... We are. The plane's landing in Sicily as we speak.

So, now begins Forces of Darkness Part III - Italy, right?

_Yup, and that means... we're done here!_

Whoo! What a time-killer!

_Not true. Some fanfic reader out there must've gained a lot of background information from reading this._

Hope so... Else, this would be useless...

Caller #3: Why do you keep ignoring me?

Everyone else: OH, SHUT UP!

**To be continued...**

...I do not how this random chapter became my priority to write it down... I guess I'll never know. But, please continue on to Part III! WOOT!


	12. On the Other Side

So, as for Part III and on 'til the end, I'm just going to throw in this one HUGE disclaimer in right now so I don't constantly repeat myself here on out... XP

**DISCLAIMER: As far as anime goes, I, T.R. Fanatic, do not claim ownership to Noir or Pokemon. Noir is owned by A.D. Vision, Ryoe Tsukimura, Bee Train, and Victor Entertainment, and Pokemon is owned by Viz Video, Nintendo, Creatures, GAME FREAK, TV Tokyo, ShoPro and JR Kikaku.**

**Characters I own, are, as followed: Daisuke Yamamoto, Claude Blackhawk and General. Any new characters that appear after this WILL be posted as a character that I own at the end of the chapter, unless they are owned by the aforementioned companies.**

Da da-da daaa! I have immunity from being sued! Hell, let's get on with it!

Forces of Darkness Part III: Italy

Chapter 12: On the Other Side

**Sicily, Italy. O Month, XO Day 2010...** _(Daisuke's case: Day 2) _**0500 hours.**

The doors to the landing gears slowly opened as they closed in on the ground high above them. The monster truck-like tires slid out through the openings and readied themselves for the landing. About a minute later, the massive cargo plane made its landing at a Rocket base in a quiet part of Sicily.

The team of seven people and one Pokemon trudged down the steps, tired expressions on their faces and all with the same mindset: _I can't believe I ate the whole thing..._

"Well, we all made to the Sicilian Team Rocket base." General informed.

"Please, tell me that the sun, over yonder, is setting..." Daisuke mumbled.

"No, it's actually rising."

The weary team made a mass-face-vault while General checked the time on his watch.

"Please tell me you're kidding!" Jessie said.

"Between here and Korea, there's an eight hour difference in time." General informed. "When people in Korea go to bed for the night, people are waking up here, ready to start the day."

"Whoo!" Mondo cheered sarcastically. "Eight-hour jetlag! What could be better than that?"

"Ah, don't think of it as a bad thing." Daisuke said. "There is a way to cure jetlag in a day. But, I warn you, it's pretty harsh..."

"We'll do anyting!" Meowth said as he and the rest of the team groveled before Daisuke. "As long as we're not actin' like vampires!"

"Then, are you willing to stay up until 2000 hours?"

"Yes!" Cassidy cheered. "We wil- wait... twenty-hundred hours?"

"I know... staying up for sixteen more hours sounds horrible, but you should be glad it's not thirty-six hours."

"What _idiot _would want to stay up for thirty-six hours?" Butch asked.

Daisuke raised his hand. "I did it voluntary! An all-nighter at an anime convention and-" He stopped and saw his angry allies. "(Crap, I said too much!)"

"Damn right you did!" Jessie said as she, Cassidy, James, Butch and Meowth lunged at Daisuke with fists, nails and claws, causing a fight cloud to brew up.

"Going to an anime convention and leave us behind?" James asked. "What kind of person are you?"

"Oww!" Cassidy whined. "Daisuke, not the hair!"

"No, that was me!" Jessie replied.

"Why, you!"

Mondo and Kuroi watched from the sidelines in embarrassment.

"And, why aren't you going in there?" Kuroi asked.

"I'd get killed off easily when going up against Daisuke." Mondo replied. "Then, where would the team be without an excellent driver?"

"I see your point..." Kuroi said with a nod. _Fearful creature..._

**(Scene: Cargo plane's hold.)**

Back in the cargo hold of the plane, a lone Rocket grunt walked up to one of the wooden crates that was plastered with "FRAGILE" and "DO NOT OPEN" decals along the entire body of the box.

He knocked on the box a couple times, making the sound reverberate off of the bare walls and ceiling. He waited a few seconds before he knocked again, but a little more louder this time. Again, the sound echoed throughout the hold. Frustrated, the grunt kicked the side of the box, hoping that he was going to get a response from the inanimate object.

The top of the box popped off and buried with the colorful Styrofoam packing peanuts was Claude Blackhawk, struggling to the surface slowly to avoid contact with his bruises. He managed to stand up (after being cramped up in a small space for the past three or so hours) and shoot a packing peanut from his mouth, aimed at the grunt.

"I take it that this is what's going to happen when you go back to Japan?" the grunt asked. "Sitting at a small desk doing paperwork?"

"If I bring back Daisuke's rotting carcass, that won't be the case!" Claude replied, ever vigilant to capture Daisuke since the first day of his transfer.

"Ha! He's going to be a pile of bones when you get back!"

"Why's that? Did Noir finally get rid of the pest?"

The grunt shook his head. "No, we just arrived at a TR base in Sicily. Good luck finding transportation and all! I checked the surroundings and there's no sign of other aircraft or towers anywhere!"

"Damn..." Claude scratched his head, removing the rest of the packing peanuts that were clinging to his jet-black hair. "Well, what about cars? Any vehicles around?"

"We took the two Jeeps over to the garage to get them repaired, refueled and ready. But entry to the garage is prohibited until they're repaired."

"What about a car that's ready now?" Claude asked as he hopped out of the box.

"Whoa! Hey! Why are you in such a rush? What's the problem?"

Claude brushed off the rest of the peanuts that latched to his uniform. "I made a mistake... A very big mistake."

"That is?"

"Hiring Noir to do my dirty work was the dumbest thing I've ever, _ever _done. And I've been regretting ever since I hid in this box!"

"And hiring the assassin was dumb... why?"

"Don't you see? If she kills Daisuke, I'd feel left out; that I wasn't the one who truly killed him, but made it look like I did."

The undercover grunt folded his arms. "And the Chief will find out that you didn't kill 'em but lied in his face anyways... The next minute you'll be in the small desk doing paperwork!"

"And we're in full circle! For now, I hope that Daisuke keeps his guard up while I go to the border of Spain and France and see if that Soldat priestess can stop Noir from this useless chase."

"What Soldat priestess?"

"Oh, God..." Claude muttered, rubbing his forehead. "What was her name?" He snapped his fingers and pointed at the grunt. "Auntie Em!"

The grunt snorted as he held back his laughter. "Don't you mean Altena, Claude?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah... Altena... Right."

"Don't screw up that name now!"

"Yeah... I won't."

"Go out this door and take a left. You'll find a Jeep that can take you there."

"Thanks..." Claude turned and left for the parked Jeep outside.

_Just hope you can make it on half a tank of gas... _the grunt thought.

**To be continued...**

...Hmmm... This looks like a good place to stop the chapter. ...I think...


	13. All Too Calm

Forces of Darkness

Chapter 13: All Too Calm

_Day 3, 1100 hours._

**(Scene: Team Rocket Base, Sicily, Italy.)**

It was near lunchtime at the Sicilian Rocket base when General stopped by the closed door the temporarily housed the seven sleeping Rockets. This was General's fifth trip to the room, hoping that this time he could wake them up (after skipping breakfast, they should be ashamed of themselves! Tsk, tsk...). He knocked three times before saying, "C'mon, you can't be asleep all day."

"Who can't be asleep all day?" someone behind him asked.

General turned around almost suddenly and nearly smacked Daisuke in the face with his fist. "D-Daisuke!" he said. "Where are the others?"

"They're still inside, holding their grudges... hopefully."

"And that jetlag trick?"

"It worked for everyone (though we acted a little silly halfway through)! Everyone fell asleep at 2000 hours and we all woke up at eight!"

General nodded. "I'm glad to hear that you all got a good night's sleep, because today is going to be rather busy!"

The locked door Daisuke and General stood before flew open and the six Rockets peered out with their stunned faces.

"Oh, no..." Mondo whimpered.

"It's just what we feared, isn't it?" Cassidy asked.

"Kuroi's coming!" James asked.

The female grunt glared at James's question. "I'm right here!" she said.

"No, he meant to say Chloe." Butch corrected.

"Thanks again, Botch!" James said before the force of the squeaky mallet hit his head.

"I saved ya the trouble..." Meowth said to Bot- ...I mean, Butch as he stood on the shoulders of Kuroi and Jessie, holding the mallet.

"No, no..." General said, calming the tense team. "We haven't heard from Noir ever since the raid at the South Korean base two days ago."

"It's good to hear that, sir." Kuroi commented. "But, I don't think that we're out of the water just yet..."

"That's true. That's why I had a talk with the one who is second in charge at this base about the feats that you've all accomplished so far."

"Second in charge?" Jessie asked. "What about the head of the base?"

"He's on a business trip in New York. But, by his wishes, he wanted to have his grandchild be in charge while he's away."

"Wait," Daisuke said. "his _grandchild?"_

**(Scene: Team Rocket Executive's office.)**

Daisuke was expecting to see a young child seated at the executive's desk with an attitude equivalent to that of Domino -- another Rocket elite that is best known as the "Black Tulip."

Instead, the young lady seated was a fair, lavender-haired woman, dressed in a gown in shades of purple.

"Allow me to introduce..." General said to the team of seven. "the temporary head of the Team Rocket Base of Sicily. The Intoccabile: Silvana Greone."

"Quite a pleasure to meet you." Silvana replied.

"The same for us..." Daisuke said as he and the rest of the team bowed politely.

"To think that you've all been chased down by Noir for the past three days and to make it this far shows me that you have potential."

"With all do respect," Daisuke said. "I do not think that our skill plays a role here, but rather luck."

The rest of the team nodded to Daisuke's remark.

"Well, whatever it may be," Silvana noted. "I believe that you may be able to slip past the deadline that Noir has for you."

Kuroi's eyes widened, but under the shadow of the beret's visor, her stunned action was invisible to the others.

"You mean he'll go free?" Mondo asked.

"Yes, I truly believe that." Silvana replied before looking at Daisuke with her purple eyes. "If you keep Tadlos close to you, this week will not end in a fatal manner."

Daisuke was stunned. "Wait, how did you know that I was carrying that sword?" he asked.

"You're carrying it on your back." the rest of his team replied in embarrassment.

"(sweatdrop) ...Oh, yeah... That's right..."

"I have been told that the Manor is a very dangerous place to enter into." Silvana informed. "I advise you to take extreme caution once you are able to see it. My best choice is to attack at night, when they least expect it."

"Will do, M'lady." Daisuke said as he saluted.

"How do know that we've found the Manor and not some cabin out in the middle of nowhere?" James asked Silvana.

"I am not one to answer that. However, if you ask the one you call Otaku, he will know."

**(Scene: Writer's house, Minnesota.)**

The young writer from Minnesota sat at the uncomfortable office chair placed in the bedroom, typing away at another story that had to be brushed from the nagging mind and be placed on the screen.

The writer jumped from the seat as soon as the loud phone next to the computer, rang in a clever tone.

**(Scene: Otaku's house, Unknown.)**

On the other end, Otaku waited as he hoped to get answer from his friend.

"Hello...?" the voice over the phone asked.

_"Hey, Writer." _Otaku replied._ "It's Otaku, as usual..."_

"I figured... So what'cha calling me for?"

_"I was wondering of you could help me."_

"Yeah, with what?"

_"I have a limerick here that I wrote up on a whim, but I can't get the last line. I was wondering if you could help me."_

"Sure, let's hear it."

_"The year is two-thousand and ten._

_"And all was too calm in Japan._

_"'Til the day that Noir came._

_"To make Team Rocket insane._

_"And... that's it..."_

The writer paused. "...And two shall end up dead."

_"...Oh... Kaaay..."_

"It's kinda prophetic if you think about it..."

_"Yeah, guess so..."_

"They're on their... what? Third day?"

_"Yeah."_

"Wait until they reach the Manor... They'll lose it, without a doubt."

_"And the two that end up dead?"_

"I can't tell you that. You already know! You should be the one who knows about this whole 'Forces of Darkness' trial."

_"Yeah, yeah... 'Those that follow the Thief of Tadlos and the Thief himself are considered to be the Forces of Darkness._

_"'When the Thief has been unmasked and the first maiden of Noir to complete all trials, save one, the candidate for Noir will go one her final trial to eclipse the rising sun and corner the thief. Before the week passes, Noir, the Thief and others that follow in pursuit will travel the world over, and the Forces of Darkness will meet at the Manor for the final battle before the search for the True Noir begins...'"_

"All right, I get it! You gotta stop quoting from that book."

_"Sorry, can't help it..."_

**To be continued...**

A little too calm, huh? Sorry, I'll make the next chapter more lively... :)


	14. Under the Beret

Forces of Darkness

Chapter 14: Under the Beret

_Day 4, 1400 hours._

**(Scene: Arena at the Rocket Base in Sicily.)**

...With Tadlos in hand, Daisuke charged at his target: Kuroi, armed with a melee dagger.

Kuroi swiftly dodged the attack then charged to make an attack of her own, dagger aimed at Daisuke.

Daisuke parried the blade away with the sword, but it proved not to be strong enough to knock the dagger out of her hand. He shifted the attack and threw an overhead slash as Kuroi blocked the move.

Standing on the sidelines of the small arena, the rest of the team watched as their allies duke it out.

"I still don't get why 'dose two are battlin'..." Meowth remarked.

"It was Kuroi's idea in the first place to battle Daisuke to see how well he'd fair against Noir in a similar match." Butch noted.

"Plus," Jessie added. "everyone here, even the Intoccabile herself, is bored out of their minds and needed some entertainment."

"And it's been how long now?" James asked.

General checked his watch as the minute hand reached twelve. "We're up to an hour now." he informed.

The rest of the team gasped in shock.

"That's impossible!" Cassidy blurted. "How are they able to stand up still?"

"They're relentless." Mondo muttered as he gave an uneasy look at Kuroi. "If this was a real battle, they would stop at nothing to see their opponent dead while they themselves live and continue on with their lives as they see fit." He slipped his right hand into his pocket and closed his eyes. _I know what you did, Kuroi. _he thought. _And I'll make sure Daisuke knows of it before this day is over. Mark my words..._

The battle continued on as Daisuke was in the middle of a series of dodges, avoiding the sharp dagger of Kuroi. The third dodge... the forth... The fifth stab was blocked and pushed to the sky by Tadlos.

The moment Kuroi was stunned by the attack, Daisuke evaded, hoping that this was the last move.

Kuroi, who still held the dagger high above her, made a downward slash at the incoming sword.

Both of the blades clashed... but it was Daisuke that lost his grip on the handle of Tadlos.

As the sword hit the ground, gasps and mutters could be heard softly throughout the arena.

Daisuke folded his arms and smiled at the victor.

"The battle has been declared victorious to Kuroi!" Silvana, who stood as referee, announced to the spectators.

The spectators made their reply in the form of applause as Daisuke and Kuroi came forward and shook hands. The rest of Daisuke's team was hesitant but slowly applauded to the two combatants. Mondo, on the other hand, still stared uneasily at Kuroi.

"Congratulations." Daisuke complimented as he put the sword back in the sheath behind him. "Never knew you had it in you..."

"Well, you know..." she shyly replied. "When you want to follow in the footsteps of another, you should be prepared to face every trial, right?"

"Yeah, I gues-" Daisuke stopped his sentence as he saw Kuroi's eyes under the visor of the beret. As cold and frightening as a glare that was all too familiar to him...

"Something the matter?" Kuroi asked, noting Daisuke's stunned face.

He quickly snapped out of the shock. "No, i-it's nothing..." He turned and walked out of the arena.

_Did you see...? _Kuroi thought.

**(Scene: Bunker at the Sicilian Rocket Base.)**

Daisuke made his way down the quiet hallway, retreating to his room to take a break. _She beat me with a dagger..._ he thought. _How is that even possible? It's almost like she's-_

His thought was interrupted as he was pulled from the hallway and into another room: Mondo's.

"Geez, Mondo!" Daisuke blurted. "Don't do that! You scared me!"

"Sorry," his younger brother replied. "but I have to tell you something before something bad happens."

"What is it?"

"It's Kuroi. I have this really bad feeling about her ever since she joined us."

"Okay, okay... Slow down... Take it easy. What's this all about?"

Mondo sighed. "Well, it was back at the South Korean base."

"Yeah?"

"When the GP raided the base and we all scattered, me, Butch, James and Meowth took the same route you did. Instead of going straight towards the lab, like you did, we went towards the kitchen then went back to the hallway that was going to the lab, and checked and see if you were still there, holding off the forces on your end..."

"But the grunt that received the phone call said he'd hold off the troops for me while I made a run for it."

"Yeah, I know. We saw him... or what was left of him..."

Daisuke gave a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"Someone killed him and took his uniform. He was in his underwear when we found him."

"Really?"

Mondo nodded. "And that's not all we found." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a familiar silver weapon. "We found this in his neck..."

Daisuke's eyes widened and his body went cold as he saw the silver throwing dagger with the same hole set in between the handle and the blade.

"That same blade was also found in seven of the GP soldiers..." Mondo added.

"S-so you think Kuroi's really...?" Daisuke asked.

Mondo nodded. "I'm sorry that I didn't inform you of this earlier."

"That's all right, Mondo, really. You have nothing to be sorry about. To be honest, I was getting curious about her, as well."

"Since when?"

"When the battle ended. I saw those cold eyes from under the visor."

"Oh..." Mondo paused.

"Wait a minute... If Kuroi said that she tackled Blackhawk..."

"I forgot to tell you." Mondo quickly added. "I heard from Otaku that he hired an elite bodyguard for you when we were over in South Korea."

"Really?"

Mondo nodded. "It's just that... she encountered Noir before she had a chance to get back to you... and the result is not pretty."

"I figured..."

Silence fell upon the two brothers.

"So, what do we do now?" Mondo asked.

"First of all," Daisuke stated sternly. "we remain calm. We have to make it look like we don't know her secret still..."

"Right!"

"I want you to go find Jessie and James. I'm going to go find Butch and Cassidy. We're all leaving to go to the Manor."

"Wait, why can't it be the other way around?"

"Simple. Butch and Cassidy won't believe a thing you say. Since you're a lower-ranked Rocket (and seem to side more with Jessie and James), it'll be like the Boy Who Cried 'Wolf!'"

"They won't believe me...?"

"That's right. Now, let's go before we waste any more time."

"Right!"

**(Scene: Jessie and James's bunker.)**

Meowth sighed as he reclined on the pillow on one of the two beds. "It's a shame 'dat Daisuke lost 'n all..."

"But he has three more days to challenge Kuroi to a rematch." James noted. "I'm sure that he'll win the second time around..."

"There's more to Kuroi than meets the eye." Jessie said. "I don't believe that it was a fluke that she won that match."

"Really?" Meowth asked.

The door opened and Mondo entered. "Sorry to be rude..." he politely said. "but I was just informed by Daisuke that we have to leave now."

"Why's that, Mondo?" Jessie asked.

"Yeah, Kuroi isn't here," James added. "what's the point of leaving?"

"Don't 'cha mean Chloe?" Meowth asked.

"Yeah... her."

"Well," Mondo replied. "me and Daisuke came to an agreement: we beg to differ."

**(Scene: The Base's kitchen.)**

Daisuke quickly slipped inside the swaying doors and made his way down every aisle to find his two siblings. He eventually found them standing over a boiling pot with another chef.

"Hey!" he called. "I thought I'd find at least one of you here!"

"So, what's going on?" Cassidy asked.

"You'd look like you were in a rush to get here." Butch added.

"Yeah, I'd hate to tell you this," Daisuke stated. "but we've gotta go."

"No!" the chef, a middle-aged chubby woman, reiterated. "They do not go until they learn the recipe."

"But, miss, we've really got to leave."

The chef hit Daisuke over the head with the soup ladle. "Do not call me 'miss!' The name is Mama Bella!"

"Right, sorry... Okay, I'll make it up to you. After this week, we'll come back and we'll all cook for you."

Bella's eyes gleamed at the offer. "You mean it?"

"As long as you let me take Butch and Cassidy away."

"Not until they learn the recipe! What could be more important than that, hm?"

"Knowing that Noir is closer than we had thought..."

Butch and Cassidy gasped at the remark.

"Humph!" Bella snorted, smacking the ladle against her open palm. "Noir, huh? Well, let me show that Noir a thing or two about messing up my lessons. I shall give her a knuckle sandwich with a can of whoop ass on the side!"

"That's nice... really." Daisuke said as he grabbed Butch and Cassidy and took them away. "But, we've gotta go."

"We'll come back!" Butch said.

"Promise!" Cassidy added as the three left the kitchen.

**(Scene: Outside of the bunker.)**

A second, small upgrade was made to Mondo's red Jeep, parked outside of the bunker. Jessie, James, Mondo and Meowth sat and waited for the last three people to hop inside and fill all six seats (while Meowth sat on someone's lap).

Butch and Cassidy burst out of the doorway and jumped inside the Jeep, frightened looks on their faces.

"Wow, you're taking the news worse than us!" James remarked.

"It's not the news that scared us..." Cassidy said.

"It's who we encountered after we got the news..." Butch added.

Daisuke walked out the door and out to the Jeep. Following behind was the energetic and anxious Kuroi.

"Come on, we're allies here, right?" she said to the quiet Daisuke. "You can tell me what's going on."

Daisuke stopped and turned to face Kuroi and quietly sighed. "...We'd... really love to... but..."

"But... you already know," Kuroi replied in a grave monotone. "don't you?"

Daisuke sighed. "Yes..."

Silence fell upon everyone, finding the words to explain this situation.

"Kuroi..." Daisuke said, attempting not to restrain anything that he said. "Could you please take off your mask and beret and reveal to us who you really are?"

"Very well..." Slowly, Kuroi pulled the mask away, revealing her cold, gray eyed stare.

"This is it..." Mondo hissed to the other Rockets that were inside of the Jeep.

"No one better freak out now..." Meowth said as he scanned the Rockets' feared expressions. "One scream, an' we're done for..."

"Quick, someone duct tape my mouth shut!" James muttered.

"Gladly..." Butch and Cassidy replied.

Kuroi then pulled the beret off her head to show everyone her short magenta hair and her true form.

Though they didn't scream once, the Rockets inside of the Jeep turned a ghostly pale, frightened to see Noir's face once more...

Daisuke did not react badly to the unmasking. "I knew it was you, Chloe..." he said with a slight smirk. "I knew it was you all along..."

"So why didn't you say something?" the assassin asked.

"And let us run in constant fear throughout the whole week? It can wear you out, y'know?"

"...I wouldn't know. I've never been in your position..."

More silence fell as a slight breeze blew across the base.

"Then it's settled." Daisuke finally said. "The last battle will be held at the Manor. When our paths cross yet again, one's path will come to an end."

"Agreed..." she replied. "However, judging by your feats in the last battle, it is you that shall see your path reach its end."

Daisuke walked to the Jeep with a slight laugh in his voice. He turned his head and glared at Chloe once more. "I wouldn't count on it."

**To be continued...**

Disclaimer: I just need to clear one thing up, I own Mama Bella. ...That's it.


	15. Forgotten

Forces of Darkness

Chapter 15: Forgotten

**The Manor, On the Border of France and Spain. O Month, OX Day 2010... (Day 5) 1200 hours...**

Staggering along the vineyard with a walking stick in his hand was the tattered Claude Blackhawk, hopefully reaching the last leg of this journey.

Two days ago, somewhere along the border of France and Italy, the Jeep that he stole from the Rocket base ran out of gas. And with absolutely NO money in his wallet, credit cards or bank account (literally throwing it all in to the reward box, for the capture or assassination of Daisuke Yamamoto, about two weeks before... that idiot...), he was left with no choice but complete the rest of the trip by foot...

_Just a few more steps..._ he thought to himself. _That's it... walk towards the ruined mansion and hope that there's people that live there... and that they're friendly..._

Luckily, one person from inside of the old building did manage to see, through the window, the weak and worn middle aged man inch his way to the entrance. She was a young, dark gray haired woman, dressed in a long, beautiful white and purple robe, showing that she was a determined follower to the Soldats.

Claude dropped to his knees at the foot of the building's steps, hugging the walking stick. _Forget it..._ he thought. _This is the third place that I tried... How could this possibly be the Manor!_

"Are you alright?" a woman's voice with a strong Irish accent asked him.

Claude looked up to find the dark gray haired nun with a worried expression on her face. "Miss..." he said. "Is this, by any chance, a place called the Manor?"

"Why, yes, it is." the nun replied.

Claude swiftly got to his feet and hugged the nun, bawling tears of joy. "Thank God! I finally made it after long last!"

"Congratulations to you." the nun said as she struggled out of the bear hug. "And could you possibly stop hugging me sometime soon... I can't breathe..."

Claude quickly released his hold and bowed slightly. "Terribly sorry about that..."

"Well," the voice of another woman interrupted. "who might this young gentleman be?"

The second woman, a beautiful lady with long light brown hair in a braided ponytail, was one that dressed similar to the dark gray haired nun but just a slight more fanciful.

Claude half-gasped at the somewhat familiar woman. "You wouldn't happen to be the priestess of the Soldats known as Altena, would you?" he asked.

"I am." the brown haired priestess replied. "Why do you ask?"

Claude took in a deep breath. "...I have a confession to make..."

**(Scene: The dining room inside the Manor.)**

An hour passed between Claude's arrival to the end of his story of how he developed a grudge against the Black Hat Bandit and how that same grudge became so strong that he hired a professional sixteen-year-old assassin to eradicate his rival.

But, as he said, all of that has changed. He confessed to the priestess that jealousy and greed consumed him over the course of the week and that he now wants to be the one to see Daisuke die by one of his own bullets and not one of Chloe's knives...

"So..." Altena began. "you came all this way from Japan to tell me that you want Chloe to drop the mission?"

Claude hesitated then gave a small nod. "...Yeah. It would have been easier if you had some form of long-distance communication."

"You mean a messenger? Or a letter, per chance?"

_This is a digital age, _Claude thought as a sweat drop fell behind his head. _and she knows NOTHING about e-mails... Good Lord, what is this world coming to..._

"Never mind..." Claude replied as he rubbed his head. "The trip has taken a toll on me and I'm beginning to ramble..."

"I understand. Well, if you would like-"

The door swiftly swung open, interrupting Altena's sentence.

"Mistress Altena," one of the common, nameless nuns said as she appeared from behind the door. "we just got word that a mysterious red vehicle is making its way here."

Claude hid his awkward gasp of joy and shock from the two ladies. "Do you know how far away that vehicle is?" he asked.

"Give it another day and it'll be here."

Claude smiled. "Good..."

"Do you know if the sword is with them?" Altena asked the nun.

"Yes." the nun replied. "The one that has been marked for death carries it with him."

"And he shows no sign of giving in?"

"None that the reconnaissance agents can see..."

"'Sign of giving in...'" Claude interrupted. "Did I miss something?"

Altena looked over at Claude. "Forgive me..." she said. "It seems that you are not aware of the unholy sword."

"'Unholy sword?'"

The priestess nodded. "Around the twelfth century, two swords were forged in honor of Noir. The first sword was forged above ground, in a town not too far from here, was blessed with the name: Soldat. But the second sword, a sword with a reverse-edge blade, was forged here but far underground, close enough to touch the fires of Hell. That sword was cursed and bore the name of Tadlos.

"Though it was to be placed here in the altar, the smith of Tadlos, near the brink of insanity after enduring countless hours near the fire, stole the sword and traveled back to his home.

"But one member of Noir was sent to go herd the blacksmith back to the Manor and place the stolen sword upon the altar, regardless if it was cursed or not.

"Within a week, the smith returned along with Noir, but the sword was not with both of them. The smith refused to say where he hid it or who it was given to. Therefore, the order was made to Noir to execute the smith, now dubbed the 'Thief of Tadlos.'

"The high priest was pleased with assassin's execution of the thief that he announced her worthy to possess the name of Noir.

"But the mystery remained, even now, on where the exact location of the sword was placed."

"Until you heard from Chloe that the sword was at a Team Rocket base in South Korea." Claude noted.

"Correct. Since the order was given to execute your target, I ordered Chloe to coax the target to carry Tadlos."

"I remember... I was beaten pretty badly by the sheath alone... I can't imagine how powerful the blade is... especially when it's given to an unstable person."

"Then the curse will affect the target even more..."

"And that curse is?"

"It's true that Tadlos gives the person that wields it unnatural strength and agility, but it also makes that person go insane..."

Claude was speechless... _Oh, dear God, what have I gotten myself into? _he thought. But, no matter who the odds were in favor of, he was going to carry out his personal promise without fail. "It's true that Daisuke possesses great strength," he said bravely. "but it will not persuade me to back down! I will kill Daisuke with my own hands or at least die trying!"

"And in the event of your untimely death?" Altena asked.

"Have Chloe take over in my place. Make sure she doesn't hesitate."

Altena smiled. "...She never does..."

**(Scene: An abandoned road in France.)**

A lone red Jeep, carrying the somewhat sleepy driver and the six other passengers, continued along the endless night-painted trail.

In the back, sat a distressed Daisuke, knees close to his chest. The sword, as well, embraced in front him, the end of the handle upon his forehead.

_I... can't believe it... _he thought. _She was right next to us the whole time... and we never knew till then... _He sniffled, fighting back his fearful tears. _...I was... so close to death... that I didn't even know..._

He resisted all effort to cry, but the tears were already falling in two streams down his face. _I'm afraid... I know what that assassin is capable of doing, but I have only witnessed it once. _He looked to his shoulder, knowing that now the wound had closed, but the red scar remained._ So why? Why do I fear such a deadly prodigy who is younger than me?_

He looked to the sword, poking his head. _No... I can't show my fear to the rest of the team. I must be strong. We'll be victorious through these last two days and we'll go on living through life with a whole new meaning..._ He smiled a little, hoping that it all works out in the end...

**To be continued...**

This is the end of Part III for everyone... And the climax shall build in the final part of Forces of Darkness: The Manor -- Saigo no Battle...


	16. Arrival

Forces of Darkness - Part IV: The Manor -- Saigo no Battle (Final Battle)

Chapter 16: Arrival

**The Manor, on the border of France and Spain. O Month, XX Day 2010... (Day 6) 1400 hours...**

They looked over the cliff in silence. The six members and one talking Pokemon from Team Rocket have finally ceased their chase, now looking to the massive vineyard out in front of them and the ruined temple beyond that...

"Is this... the Manor?" Cassidy asked.

Daisuke nodded. "I believe so..." He quickly looked down at the path below him and the rest of the teammates to see a familiar traveler walking by... "Quick! Get down!" he ordered.

Thankfully, she wasn't able to hear of the moving shrubs above her as she slowly entered the vineyard.

Meowth gasped. "Dat's..."

"Shh!" Daisuke hissed.

"But, how does she know...?" Jessie whispered.

"...That we're here?" James added.

As soon as the cloaked teen was out of earshot from the Rockets, Cassidy belted, "All those who say that there's a mole among us, say 'I!'"

"I!" the other Rockets said in chorus.

_"Nay!" _a voice objected. The voice was none other than Otaku coming out of a dispatcher in Mondo's Jeep.

"Majority rules, Otaku!" Cassidy stated.

Otaku bursted out in laughter. _"You're a forgetful bunch! You don't remember that the place you're standing in front of is also Chloe's home?"_

With eyes wide and dropped jaws, the Rockets stared dumbly at the Manor.

"Great..." Daisuke whined. "Chloe now has the home-field advantage..."

_"Ahh... don't look at it as a bad thing, Daisuke... It's easier than it looks!"_

"Are you crazy?" Butch asked.

"Yeah!" Meowth agreed. "Daisuke's gonna get mutilated by dat assassin if he ain't careful..."

_"Hey! Hear me out for a second." _Otaku said. _"All that Daisuke needs to do now is to go to Altena and give her that Tadlos sword. And if all goes well, he'll be free before the seventh sunrise!"_

"That's it!" Mondo asked.

"We came all this way to bring back a sword!" Daisuke asked. "I thought we were going to raid the place!"

_"The situation has changed. But, if you want to do it the hard way, that's fine. Besides, that sword is your ticket to freedom..."_

"I know... But, we can't go now. Chloe will spot us, and..."

_"And the promise you made to duel will be carried out, right?"_

Daisuke stared at the dispatcher awkwardly. "How did you know that?"

_"I just knew you would. A competitive one like yourself loves to cross blades with those that believe they can overpower you."_

"You've noticed..." Daisuke smirked.

_"Yeah... But, anyways... Your best chance to avoid being attacked by Chloe is around the night hours when she's asleep..."_

**(Scene: Entrance to the Manor.)**

_Home at last... _Chloe thought as scaled the small hill and saw the Manor before her. _However, the mission is still not over..._ She stopped and looked back to a distant cliff, seeing a shiny red object hiding behind the small shrubs. She couldn't help but to smile at the ignorant team and their idea of camouflage...

**To be continued...**

Okay, it _was_ longer when I first wrote it out, but here seems like a good place to stop... for this chapter, at least...


	17. Never Again

Forces of Darkness

Chapter 17: Never Again

**(Scene: The Vineyard of the Manor) **_2100 hours..._

A group of nuns stood watch near the entrance to the vineyard, heeding Chloe's warning of a suspicious vehicle nearby.

It was then that one of the nuns spotted a figure appearing from the dark path. The moon casting its light on a black cloth-like tarp.

"Who goes there?" one of the nuns asked the unknown person.

The figure stopped in silence and stared at the nuns. From what he was told by Otaku was that the best form of nocturnal and candlelight camouflage was a black tarp that was found in the trunk of the Jeep and that any other color (even the red R of the Rocket uniform) and any form of movement would make him an easy target. Still, he didn't really mind about being spotted by a seemingly peaceful bunch.

"I'll ask again." the same nun said. "Who are you and what is your purpose for being here?"

"I am the one that carries the sword known as Tadlos." the voice of Daisuke finally replied. "I have come to return this sword to its rightful owner: Mistress Altena."

"The Mistress is unable to talk to anyone at the moment." another nun stated. "But, we will be able to give her the sword if you'd like."

Daisuke clearly remembered from what Otaku said that he must personally hand Tadlos over to Altena, else it would not count towards his chance for freedom. (Also, if he brought along Charizard, the chance that he would damage the holy grounds of the Manor would be high, and, again, make Daisuke lose his chance to be free.) "I'm sorry." he said. "I must be the one to give Altena this sword."

"And we've told you that she is busy!" the nun retorted as she took a step forward. "Now, if you'd please-" Before she could finish her sentence, her foot fell through the ground. She blinked in shock before the rest of her body fell through a deep pit in the ground.

The four other nuns, taking this as a sneak attack from Daisuke, charged at the cloaked young man, golden guns and silver daggers drawn...

...Not even realizing that there was four more pitfalls in front of the intruder waiting to be tripped...

Daisuke closed his eyes shamefully, almost sweatdropping at the fact that no one can outwit a Team Rocket pitfall...

The sound of three cackles broke the short lapse of silence. Appearing from behind a row of grapes were the disappointed Butch and Cassidy and the cheerful Jessie, James and Meowth.

"See?" James said. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!"

"Now you can never say that we're a good-for-nothing team that did nothing to help you." Jessie added, directing her remark towards Cassidy.

"You still haven't..." Cassidy replied smugly.

"Why you..." Jessie stepped forward, ready to kick Cassidy's a-

"This is a very bad time for another fight to break out..." Daisuke informed, eyes still close, folding his arms inside the cloak.

"So... what happens now?" Meowth asked.

The cloaked teen opened his eyes and looked at his teammates one last time in a somber crimson-eyed stare. He then looked towards the faintly lit Manor, narrowing his eyes at what was to come... "I'm going to go in and find Altena, and give her back this sword." he finally said. He knelt down and picked up a discarded gold gun, once held by one of the nuns, now trapped. "If this is somehow a trick that Chloe used to lure me here, I'll be ready to counter..."

"And, what about us?" Butch asked as Daisuke slipped the gun through his belt.

"You guys have to improvise. The plans that you wish to carry out weren't made because you constantly fought with each other over these seven hours..."

The Rockets bowed their heads sadly.

"If there was one I'd like to see happen before the end," he continued. "is to see you guys get along during one mission."

"Wait..." Jessie said. "What do you mean by... 'the end?'"

Daisuke smiled slightly. "That this is a difficult mission for _anyone_ to take up. I can see now why Wild Bill had troubles making it through one week of a wild goose chase."

"But, it's almost over!" James stated. "We'll be able to leave once you hand the sword over to Athena."

"ALTENA!" everyone, including the trapped nuns, corrected.

"Sorry..."

"But don't you remember what General said about what happened to Wild Bill in the end?" Daisuke asked.

"Dat'll never happen!" Meowth stated. "It's gonna be Chloe dat sees th' end an' not you!"

"WOB-BUFFET!" the annoying blue Pokemon added.

"I'd... really like to think that way..." Daisuke bowed his head. "But, Chloe is far stronger than I'll ever be. To be honest, I envy her prowess. I guess you can say that I'm lucky for surviving through this week... If luck wasn't on my side, I'd be dead while we're still in Viridian."

"Daisuke, quit saying such stupid things!" Cassidy belted.

Daisuke rose his hand out in front of his sister to calm her down. "...Just to be safe..." he quietly said. "...If this is the last time that we see each other, never utter my name to others ever again."

The other members fell into a silent shock as Daisuke hopped over one of the pitfalls and made his way through the vineyard...

"That's it." he continued. "You never heard of the Black Hat Bandit. There's no evidence or record that proves of his existence... As for the Yamamoto family..."

Butch and Cassidy's eyes widened as they braced themselves for the worst.

"...there is only three siblings: Butch, Cassidy and Mondo." With that finally off his chest, the cloaked teen slowly sauntered to the Manor.

"Don't you ever say that to me!" Cassidy snapped to her oblivious brother. "Those are nothing but a bunch of lies, and you know it! We'll see each other again when the day is done -- on this I swear!"

**(Scene: A cliff overlooking the Manor.)**

Mondo, sitting in the comfort of the Jeep, watched through the binoculars as Daisuke slowly advanced to the very final place of this taxing journey.

"Good luck..." he quietly said, cheering his brother on... not knowing how far he has fallen past the border of sanity...

**To be continued...**


	18. The Longest Hour Acte I

Forces of Darkness

Chapter 18: The Longest Hour -- Acte I

**(Scene: The Main Foyer of the Manor.) **_2130 hours..._

From the moment Daisuke stepped into the candlelit halls of the medieval-like cathedral, he did not like it. For one thing, the areas beyond the first row of candles were near pitch black, making it difficult for anyone to see their hand in front of their face. The second... the entire place reeked with the smell of blood -- a smell that Daisuke could not stand.

But, this time, the smell didn't affect him: not once feeling dizzy or ready to throw up. It was as though he changed into a totally different person within a matter of hours.

He took in a deep breath and shouted, "Mistress Altena, if you can hear my voice, please respond!" He knew that his voice was loud enough to wake Chloe up, but he did not mind it. He was ready this time. _...Better now than never... _he thought.

"Who, may I ask, is it and what is your purpose for coming so late at night?" A voice echoed from the hallway on his right.

Daisuke turned and unconsciously followed the voice while replying, "I have endured nearly a week's struggle for survival against the assassin known as Noir. Now, I have come, as promised, to return the sword know as Tadlos and ensure my freedom."

"I accept your offer." Altena said in her eerie relaxed manner. "Step through the door on your left and I shall be there..."

Sure enough, the door that Daisuke stood before was the one where Altena's voice was coming in loud and clear. He slowly opened the door with his left hand and readied the gun with his right.

He hesitated for a moment, sensing another presence aside from him and Altena...

"Come, child." Altena said softly. "There is nothing for you to be afraid of..."

Not really taking that into consideration, Daisuke pushed the door open and drew the gun at Altena, who sat in the small study, reading by candlelight. Realizing his mistake, he quickly drew the gun back inside the cloak. "So, you're Altena." he said.

The brown-haired priestess looked to the cloaked teen with her calm purple eyes. "Yes." she replied. "And you must be Daisuke, correct?"

Daisuke's eyes widened then quickly narrowed. "I guess Chloe has told you much about me, huh?"

Altena nodded. "She also said that you're quite the stubborn one..."

Daisuke bursted out in a brief, nervous laughing spell. "I guess I am!" he said, quickly recovering. "But, let us hold off our casual conversations for now..."

"Yes. There is something that you wish to return..."

Daisuke unsheathed the silver reverse-edge sword once more and presented it to the priestess, his right hand grasping the handle and his left placed carefully under the blade.

"Even after eight hundred years, it still is able to retain its glimmer." Altena commented.

Daisuke slowly made his advance towards the priestess, still holding the sword as though it was a fragile piece of art. "And it still has kept its ability to pierce the hardest of armor and draw blood at the same time." he added. He knew now, without a doubt, that there was someone else here aside from him and Altena. He took his left hand away from the blade and slipped it inside the cloak. At the same time, with his right hand, he rose the sword out in front his face and just off to the right, aiming at a shadowy area of the study. He closed his crimson eyes and asked, "Would you care to demonstrate, Blackhawk?"

The blade of another sword appeared from the dark area. With it, the hell-bent Blackhawk, ready to hit Daisuke in one blow. But his blade connected with Daisuke's, casting whatever force, he put into his sword, aside.

Daisuke countered by taking the golden gun into his left hand, revealing it to Blackhawk and pulling the trigger...

**(Scene: A cliff overlooking the Manor.)**

The shot was loud enough that Mondo could hear it from where he set up the mini base. He watched intently through the binoculars to see any signs of movement, but all he saw was five nuns making their advance to the Manor.

_"That's it, Daisuke." _Otaku said over the dispatcher. _"Get the hell outta there!"_

"How do you know what's going on over there?" Mondo asked.

_"Thanks to the wonders of technology, I have a couple spy cameras set up around key parts of the Manor, and then some set up in the sleeping quarters... Where _everyone_ should avoid it right about now!"_

"Why?"

**(Scene: Sleeping Quarters' Hallway.)**

The five nuns slipped in through the open window and snuck down the hallway, avoid every chance to be seen.

"So, tell us again why we had to dress up as nuns?" Cassidy asked.

"It's all part of our perfect scheme to steal any rare treasures that this place might hold..." Jessie began.

"And, save Daisuke at the same time!" James added.

"But, to cross-dress as a nun?" Butch asked.

"It's better dan comin' over in our Rocket uniforms!" Meowth said, standing on top of Wobbuffet's head.

"WOB-BUFFET!" Wobbuffet added, hiding inside the robe that Meowth wore.

"That's strange..." a person who stealthily hid in one of the doorways said. "I see five nuns but I hear six voices..."

The disguised Rockets turned their heads to the direction of the voice then quickly backed up to the wall behind them, hoping that what they saw in front of them was nothing more but a figment of their imagination...

Meowth, snapped out of shock, realizing of what he said back over by the vineyard. "C'mon, guys!" he called to the other Rockets. "Now's our chance to attack!"

The rest of the team snapped out of their shock and pulled out the handheld blaster bombs, hidden within their sleeves.

As soon as the bombs were lit, they were thrown to the green cloaked target...

...Who merely countered by slipping back into her room and closing the door in front of her, letting the bombs ricochet off of the door and back to the Rockets...

...BOOM!...

As soon as the sound of the blast subsided, Chloe opened the door and inspected the damage. A small crater was left on the floor where the Rockets once stood. That didn't surprise her. But she was surprised by the hole in the ceiling left by the team. She stood silently, staring up at the full moon through the broken ceiling. She then smiled, and began to walk down the hallway...

**(Scene: The sky above the Manor.)**

"Well, whaddaya kno'..." Meowth said as he and the other Rockets flew through the air. "Chloe is stronger than we'd thought..."

"Makes you wonder how Daisuke's going to be able to put up a fight..." James noted.

"Hopefully, he'll find a chance to run for it." Jessie replied.

Silence fell upon the team.

"Y'know..." Butch said. "throughout this entire fanfic, I'd never thought that we were going to do one thing."

"What's that?" asked Cassidy.

"To say that one line..."

"Oh..." Cassidy said, displeased. "that one..."

And everyone joined in the chorus... "LOOKS LIKE TEAM ROCKET'S BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"

"WOBBA!" Wobbuffet added before the team became a shining star in the night sky.

**To be continued...**


	19. The Longest Hour Acte II

Forces of Darkness

Chapter 19: The Longest Hour -- Acte II

**(Scene: Otaku's house, Unknown.) **_2140 hours..._

Through his circular framed glasses, Otaku witnessed the chase between Daisuke and Claude through the hallways of the Manor, in the comfort of his home. He turned and checked the PC screen next to the surveillance monitor to see if his friend, the writer from Minnesota, was still on the line.

_"I take it you're watching this as well?"_ he asked the writer.

The writer nodded as he watched through the second monitor at his place. "This is _so_ much better than reality TV... even if they are anime characters..."

Otaku smiled. _"Y'know, you're not really supposed to be watching this."_

"Hey, we're in on this together, aren't we?" the writer shot back.

_"Right, right..."_

The writer sighed and put the headphones that he had wrapped around his neck, over his ears and pressed the play button on the CD player.

_"What are you listening to now?" _Otaku asked his J-pop savvy sidekick.

"Kaijiura's Fiction CD." the writer replied. "I got it today, but I haven't got a chance to play it the whole way through. I heard it's quite a collector's item."

Otaku nodded. _"It is. What track are you on now?"_

"I just finished track two."

_"Go to track seven."_

"Why?"

Otaku chuckled a bit. _"You'll see..."_

The writer quickly flipped through the tracks, all the while checking to see the name of the song he was looking for: "zodiacal sign."

**(Scene: A hallway in the Manor.) **_2142 hours..._

It felt like he was running for hours, but it only had been less than fifteen minutes before Daisuke nearly fell into an ambush. _I wonder if Altena was behind that attack as well... _he thought as he hid in the blind spot of a connecting hallway.

Along that same hallway was another nun, moving in the shadows, both gun and dagger drawn and aimed at her oblivious target.

Or, so she thought before Daisuke, not once looking at the nun, drew his gun and fired one round.

Knowing that Blackhawk could easily find him now, Daisuke turned around to face the near-death nun and ran down that hallway. As he ran past the nun, now kneeling, he discarded his empty gun and took the loaded gun that the nun had, all the while, putting a deep gash in her throat, ensuring her death.

_2145 hours..._

Another sprint down another hallway led Daisuke to_ another_ ambush. This time, one armed nun sprang out behind a doorway and fired at the cloaked teen.

The bullet was easily blocked by the unholy sword that he held out in front of his face. He then pulled out the gun hidden in the cloak and fired one round.

A doorway further down and on the opposite side of the first door flew open. With it, a nun firing blindly at Daisuke.

He managed to slipped past every bullet fired as he made a swift charge towards the nun, drawing the sword across his chest then throwing a slash that was able to cut through the side of the wooden door and the nun's throat. He skidded to a stop, taking in a deep breath after that small scare, then continued on his way, where ever it may be...

**(Scene: Altar of the Manor.) **_2150 hours..._

One of the double doors swung open and Daisuke stumbled in, nearly tripping down the dark aisle. He caught himself and looked up towards the moonlit altar.

...Dead silence was all he heard as he slowly crept along the aisle, listening to every footstep made. "Someone's here..." he muttered. "...but where?"

He stopped as soon as he got near the front of the altar, closed his eyes, finding the _other_ sound that he heard without the use of his vision.

_Footsteps..._ he thought. _...behind me!_ He quickly opened his eyes and turned around to find the ragged, half-sane Claude Blackhawk charging into the altar with a sword in his hands.

The two blades clashed, setting off small sparks of light on impact. Daisuke glared at the foolish opponent that attempted to push him back with all his strength.

"Miss me?" Claude hissed.

Daisuke smirked. "'Course not." He shoved Claude back to the aisle, gaining some fighting space.

Claude smiled back. "It's about time that you accept your fate and die by my hand!"

"Your hand?" Daisuke's eyes narrowed. "What ever happened to Noir?"

"I refuse to see the one that I have been going after get killed off by someone that is half is young as me!"

"Then what was the point of hiring her in the first place?" Daisuke hissed. "You set up this whole 'round-the-world chase for nothing!"

"I was foolish." Claude replied. "So what?" Holding the sword tightly in his hand, he charged once more at Daisuke. "Your death is all that matters now!"

Unconsciously, Daisuke drove the unholy sword through the air, burying itself in Claude's chest.

Both combatants smiled in their insane manner.

"You missed..." Daisuke said, barely feeling the sting of the cut on his left cheek.

"...And so I did..." Claude hissed. "I hope that Noir will take over in my place so that she can kill you in the same way that you did to me..."

Daisuke pulled the blood-stained sword away as soon as Claude began to close his eyes and his lifeless body succumbed to the force of gravity.

**To be continued...**

T.R. Fanatic: This is about as far as I'll possibly get in long-chapter fanfics until I get motivated to continue writing this piece (and find a way to end this story).


	20. Last Stand

Forces of Darkness

Chapter 20: Last Stand

**(Scene: Somewhere outside of the Manor)**

Running. That was all that Daisuke knew now. _Run like hell. _he thought. _And don't you dare look back._

As soon as he defeated Claude back in the cathedral, he knew that a person witnessed this act aside from himself, and ran out the nearest possible exit (through a window) with the green cloaked assassin following close behind.

He unconsciously brought himself to a ruined coliseum not far from the Manor and stopped in the middle of the arena. "What am I doing?" he silently asked himself. "I just have to hand over the sword, and I'm free!"

The second pair of footsteps entered into the coliseum and skidded to a halt, seeing Daisuke standing there, his red eyes glaring at her, holding the sword, sheath and all, in his hand.

He tossed the sword so that it was in between the two cloaked figures. The assassin did nothing in return. "I guessed that was the reason you were chasing after me, huh?" Daisuke asked. "Well, it's back in the possession of the Manor, and I have nothing to do with it now. So let's just drop this issue and go back to living our normal lives!"

Chloe didn't answer. Nor did she pick up the sword and walk away.

Daisuke was stunned. "Is this about getting revenge over your slain client? Look-"

"Draw your sword..." Chloe finally said.

"What?"

"You made a promise, remember? When you reached the Manor, we would have one last battle..."

Daisuke smiled as he walked towards the sword. "You're right." he said, unsheathing the blade. "How could I be so forgetful?" He took a step forward before he lunged at his target, blade in his hand.

And the blades, knife and sword alike, sang their sorrowful songs on through the night.

At the break of day, the victor left the coliseum, the sun shining on her green cloak...

**To be continued?**

T.R.: Who knows? I wanted to do a sequel on this for a while... maybe I'll get around to it when I get enough motivation... (haha, next _decade_!)

And my first multi-chapter fanfic is done! Although the ending was a little quick, I'll try and revamp it soon...

Thanks again, and please review!


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